Cube orange uavionix Onboard ADSB receiver detection range

ArduCopter Copter 4.4
1

Hi everyone,

we are looking for a technical question dont appear in the documentation.

We are testing the cube orange onboard adsb receiver.

first, the docs online are out of date, the current firmware 4.4.x have new parameters, there is not the adsb_enable yet.

we are setup the parameters, include the srX_adsb to 2hz and we dont receive anything.

MP and QGC with the same results. we compare with flight radar to see nearest traffics and dont see anything.

what is the average range in outdoors of these onboard receiver?

have any special setup in mission planner or qgc to enable the adsb?

thanks

2

There are going to be a lot of variables that will impact the range of the ADS-b receiver on the Cube Orange. Most notably: Location, location, location.

In ideal conditions, I’ve picked up high flying airline traffic 100+km away. (cool, but useless)
I’ve also found that indoors, even though I can actually see an airport from my office window, I get nothing. On the ground, I’ve had very poor reception, but even just 20 or 30m up I suddenly start to pick up a lot more.

When I did my configuration testing a few years ago, I actually drove to a viewing area near a major international airport and sat there so I knew I had the best chance to pick up ADS-B signals.

Also remember, depending on where you are in the world not all aircraft will have ADS-B. In my country ADS-B is not mandatory. If you are comparing data with FR24 or FlightAware, those sites will also source data from MLAT, and Mode-S transponders. That data will not show up on the ADS-B receiver in the Cube. Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.

3

thanks for the info.

yes, i know that FR24 have various types of systems, i setup to see only ADSB signals.

the purpose of these project its use cube orange to make a ground adsb receiver. we have various test cube oranges in the company and we have to put one in the local aerodrome tower to see the nearest own drones with adsb transceiver.

in mission planner or qground have any special settings to see the adsb traffics?

4

I don’t remember what I set to get it working of the Cube Orange. It’s all in the SRx_ADSB value to make sure you’re getting the stream.

If this is for a fixed, long term setup, I would suggest going a different way and use PiAware. A RaspberryPi and a SDR is a lot cheaper than a Cube, and better set up for running long term. Mine’s been going for about 4 years straight. PiAware gives you the ability to port the ADSB data from the pi directly into Mission Planner or QGC. I also feed FR24 because I like the mobile view better for watching for aircraft when we’re flying. Depending on your network skills, it can be a bit of a go around to set it up, especially if the pi and Mission Planner are on different networks. But I was able to do it so it’s not impossible and within reach of most mortal internet users.