BYOD — Bring Your Own Device
Use Your Own ADS-B Receiver
Already have a Stratux ADS-B receiver? Want to Build your own pilotADSB receiver? Just flash our free universal firmware and enjoy the exact same Drone Pilot ADS-B experience as our own receivers — Bluetooth auto-connect, Pressure Sensor or AHRS support. We support pi3b and pi4b boards.
What You Need
| Item | Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi | ✅ Tested Pi 3B+ or Pi 4 | Other Pi models with RTL-SDR should work but are untested |
| RTL-SDR Dongle | 1090ES + 978 / 868 UAT | Dual-band SDR recommended for full US traffic coverage |
| microSD Card | 4 - 8GB | Class 10 or faster. We use Kexin cards in our own production units with excellent results. SanDisk and Samsung also work great. Avoid cheap no-name cards. |
| SD Card Reader | Required | To connect the microSD to your PC for flashing |
| BalenaEtcher | Free download | etcher.balena.io — Windows, Mac, and Linux |
Built for pilotADSB, from the ground up
pilotADSBos is our own receiver firmware — not a Stratux fork, not a patched community image. We wrote it from scratch so that everything a receiver has to do is handled by one self-contained program, with no scripts to break, no packages to drift, and nothing to configure by hand.
Flash the card and power it on. The receiver identifies its own hardware — one SDR or two, GNSS, AHRS, pressure sensor — and configures itself. It works out where in the world it is from the first GPS fix and selects the right bands automatically: 1090 ES and 978 UAT across North America/ 868 OGN elsewhere. It serves traffic over both Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time, failing over instantly between them, so a dropped WiFi connection never costs you your traffic display.
Where a HAT is fitted, attitude and pressure altitude are detected and enabled on their own, and AHRS calibration is a single button push and one short 100-200' drive — no menus, no orientation charts, no guessing which way the box is pointing.
Under the surface it is built like equipment rather than a hobby project. The root filesystem is read-only, so a power cut cannot corrupt it. Every image is reproducible — built from pinned sources with no downloads at build time, so the same commit always produces the same firmware. The receiver monitors its own power and temperature and reports problems in plain language, distinguishing a failing USB cable from a hot enclosure instead of leaving you to guess. Firmware updates install over the air from the app — no card removal for most releases.
This is the identical firmware we ship on our own pilotADSB receivers, so a unit you build yourself behaves exactly like one you buy. In recent testing a Raspberry Pi 3B ran for nearly three hours in 96 °F direct sun, decoding over 3,000 messages per minute, without a single dropped frame or thermal throttle.
⬇ Download Firmware Ver 0.24.21 (594 MB)SHA256 checksum available on the GitHub releases page. Always verify your download before flashing.
How to Flash the Firmware
Download and Install BalenaEtcher
Go to etcher.balena.io and download the free app for your operating system. Install and open it.
Download the Firmware
Download the firmware zip file using the button above. You do not need to unzip it — BalenaEtcher reads zip files directly.
Insert Your SD Card
Insert your microSD card into your SD card reader and connect it to your PC. Use a card of at least 8GB Class 10 speed or faster.
Flash with BalenaEtcher
In BalenaEtcher: click Flash from file → select the downloaded zip → click Select target → choose your SD card → click Flash. Wait for the flash and verification to complete. This takes a few minutes.
Insert SD Card INTO Stratux and Power On
Eject the SD card from your PC and insert it into your Raspberry Pi. Connect your RTL-SDR dongle(s) and power on via USB. Use a quality 5V power supply — a stable voltage is important, especially on Pi 3B+ units (see note below).
Wait 2 MIN for First Boot to COMPLETE SETUP
First boot takes about 2 minutes while the system generates a unique WiFi name based on your Pi's MAC address. Do not power off during this process.
Connect and Go
On your Android device open the Pilot ADSB-UAS app and accept the terms & conditions, then allow permissions that PilotADSB needs. Select Connect to Bluetooth Receiver and the app will automatically connect to your Stratux Receiver. The setup and connection process is identical to a PilotADSB.com receiver. Once connected via Bluetooth you are LIVE and your traffic count will show at the bottom.
WiFi Login Details
There is typically no reason to connect to the stratux by wifi and access the GUI. Changes to the main settings can be made in the pilotADSB app via Bluetooth. However, if you need to login via wifi, use the details below.
⚡ Raspberry Pi 3B+ — Power Supply Note
The Bluetooth chip on the Raspberry Pi 3B+ has a known sensitivity to voltage drops below 5V. If the power supply is marginal, the Bluetooth module can occasionally freeze. Our firmware includes a built-in watchdog that automatically detects this condition and reboots the unit to recover — no action needed on your part. We have found this to average 2-3 times over a 6-8 hour consecutive period.
During a watchdog reboot the Stratux will be unavailable for approximately 90 seconds before coming back online. Using a quality 5V/2.5A or better power supply.
Pi 4 units do not have this issue because of the USB C power port.
Need Help?
Most BYOD issues come down to SD card quality, USB power supply capacity, or connection mode selection. If you're stuck, post in our community forum with your Pi model, Android version, and a description of what's happening. Our team and fellow pilots are there to help.
Questions About Your Setup?
Our community forum is the fastest way to get answers from our team and fellow pilots.
Visit the Forum Support Page