microADSB

NodeJS interface to the microADSB-USB receiver (http://www.microadsb.com/)

Requirements

• NodeJS
• serialport (from npm)
• A compatible ADS-B receiver

Installation

Inside your node_modules directory:

git clone https://www.github.com/jeffwalter/microADSB.git
npm install

Example

var microADSB = require ('microADSB');

var adsb = new microADSB ();
adsb.device = '/dev/ttyUSB0';

adsb.on ('open', function (err) {
	if (err) {
		console.error ('Error: ' + err);
		return;
	}
	console.log ('Notice: ADSB port opened');
});

adsb.on ('message', function (message) {
	console.log (message);
});

adsb.open ();

Output

52 bit squitter

{
	frameid: 690,
	timestamp: {
		string: '0x001310942f70',
		integer: 81882525552
	},
	type: '*',
	downlinkformat: 4,
	data: [ 32, 0, 13, 177, 149, 135, 115 ],
	frame: '*20000DB1958773;'
}

112 bit extended squitter (ADS-B)

{
	frameid: 62904,
	timestamp: {
		string: '0x001310921fb8',
		integer: 81882390456
	},
	type: '*',
	downlinkformat: 17,
	data: [ 141, 171, 31, 254, 153, 148, 205, 134, 104, 76, 8, 88, 72, 160 ],
	frame: '*8DAB1FFE9994CD86684C085848A0;'
}

API

Properties

Serial Device

• device (string): Path to the serial device presented by the ADS-B receiver
• baudrate (integer, 115200): Baudrate to use. NOTE: The microADSB-USB uses 115200bps and it can't be changed.
• databits (integer, 8): Number of bits per "byte". NOTE: The microADSB-USB uses 8 and it can't be changed.
• parity (integer, 0): Which bits to use for parity. NOTE: The microADSB-USB uses 0 and it can't be changed.
  • 0 - No parity
  • 1 - Odd
  • 2 - Even
• stopbits (float, 1): Number of bits that indicate a stop. NOTE: The microADSB-USB uses 1 and it can't be changed.

ADS-B

• frameids (boolean, false): Ask the ADS-B receiver to tag incoming frames with an incrementing ID so you can tell if a frame is dropped.
• timestamps (boolean, false): As the ADS-B receiver to tag incoming frames with a timestamp. NOTE: The timestamps are pretty useless and NodeJS doesn't support 48bit unsigned integers.
• heartbeats (boolean, false): Instruct the ADS-B receiver to send a heartbeat frame about every second.
• raw (boolean, false): Instruct the ADS-B receiver to deliver frames using a binary syntax to use less bandwidth. NOTE: The binary protocol is not implemented in this module yet.
• mode (integer, 2): Tell the ADS-B receiver which types of frames you'd like to receive:
  • 2 - All frames
  • 3 - Only DF17, DF18, and DF19 frames
  • 4 - Only DF17, DF18, and DF19 frames with valid CRC

Methods

• on: Sets up a callback for an event. Callback definitions are detailed in the Events section below.
• open: Open the serial connection to the ADS-B receiver and configure it using the ADS-B properties. Calls the optional passed function or fires the open event when everything is ready or an error occurs.
  • Callback: function (err)
• close: Closes down the serial connection after attempting to reset the ADS-B receiver. Calls the optional passed function or fires the close event when everything is shut down or an error occurs.
  • Callback: function (err)

Events

• open: Fires when the ADS-B receiver is opened, configured, and ready to send events, or an error occurred during opening.
  • Callback: function (err)
• message: Calls the passed function when a message arrives from the ADS-B receiver. Passes a structure containing the message and extra information when available.
  • Callback: function (message)
• heartbeat: When heartbeats are enabled prior to calling open() the callback for this event is called every time a heartbeat frame is received.
  • Callback: function ()
• err: A general error event. Any out of call error causes this event to fire.
  • Callback: function (err)
• close: When the ADS-B receiver goes away (intentional via close() or for some other reason) this event is called. Any error is passed along in the first argument.
  • Callback: function (err)