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Hardware & requirements

This page lists hardware for an AryaOS gateway. It covers the computer, storage, radios, antennas, GPS, and field power. A pre-assembled AirTAK go-kit is also available.

Just want it to work?

Order an assembled and tested AirTAK go-kit. It includes a Raspberry Pi, radios, antennas, GPS, a field enclosure, and AryaOS. The rest of this page supports custom builds.

What each mission needs

AryaOS runs the same image everywhere. A mission's needs come down to which radios and antennas you attach and which device role you select. Use this table to plan a build.

Mission Deploy guide Radio Antenna GPS Device role
Aircraft (ADS-B 1090 MHz) Aircraft (ADS-B) RTL-SDR 1090 MHz ADS-B Optional air
Aircraft (UAT 978 MHz, US) Aircraft (ADS-B) Second RTL-SDR 978 MHz (or wideband ADS-B) Optional air
Maritime vessels (AIS) Maritime vessels (AIS) RTL-SDR VHF marine (161-162 MHz) Optional maritime
Drones (Remote ID / DroneID) Counter-UAS (drones) AntSDR (or Wi-Fi/BT sniffer) 2.⅘.8 GHz per hardware Optional cuas
Own position on the map Own position (GPS) - - USB GNSS puck any
Everything at once Multi-sensor COP Multiple SDRs Per band above USB GNSS puck multi
CoT relay / routing only Relay & routing - - Optional relay

One SDR per band

Each radio decodes one band at a time. To watch 1090 MHz and 978 MHz simultaneously (or add AIS), fit one RTL-SDR per band and give each a unique serial - see Re-serializing radios.

Single-board computer

AryaOS is a Debian trixie-based, arm64 operating system built with pi-gen. It targets the Raspberry Pi and is tested on the following models.

Model Architecture Status Notes
Raspberry Pi 5 arm64 Recommended Fastest. best headroom for multi-sensor builds
Raspberry Pi 4 arm64 Supported & tested The most common field build
Raspberry Pi 3 arm64 Supported & tested Works for single-sensor loadouts

Intel/amd64 is planned, not shipping yet

AryaOS images are arm64 only today (#129). The full gateway suite already installs on any Debian host from the signed apt repository. Thus, you can run the software on amd64 even before a dedicated image exists.

microSD card

You write the AryaOS image to a microSD card and boot from it.

Spec Requirement
Minimum capacity 16 GB
Recommended capacity 32 GB
Class A1/A2 application-class, high-endurance media recommended

The image resizes its filesystem to fill the card on first boot. Thus, a larger card gives you room for logs, support bundles, and Node-RED flows without any manual steps.

Use a reputable card whose manufacturer can be verified. counterfeit cards can report the advertised capacity while aliasing unrelated sectors. After first boot, run the integration suite. A zero media manufacturer ID, binary boot command line, or missing boot artifact is a hard failure. Replace the card rather than reflashing it again.

Radios (SDR dongles)

AryaOS decodes signals with software-defined radio (SDR) dongles on USB.

RTL-SDR dongles (RTL2832U) cover the three most common bands:

Band Frequency Decoder AryaOS serial convention
ADS-B 1090 MHz readsb / dump1090-fa stx:1090:0
UAT (US) 978 MHz dump978-fa stx:978:0
AIS 161-162 MHz (VHF) ais-catcher assign a distinct serial

A blog-favorite is the Nooelec NESDR series. The factory UAT preset on AryaOS matches the NESDR Nano 3 "978" EEPROM serial stx:978:0.

Drone detection uses a wider-band radio such as the AntSDR to capture DJI DroneID and other Remote ID signals, feeding DroneCOT and DJICOT. See Counter-UAS (drones) for the supported capture hardware and setup.

Give each dongle a unique serial

AryaOS tells the ADS-B, UAT, and AIS decoders apart by USB serial (stx:1090:0, stx:978:0. So on). If you install two identical dongles with the same factory serial, decoders will fight over the same device. Re-serialize before deploying.

Re-serializing radios

Set serials from Cockpit > AryaOS Site > Radios, or from a shell with aryaos-sdr:

sudo aryaos-sdr list
sudo aryaos-sdr set-serial 0 stx:1090:0

Replug the dongle (or reboot) for the new serial to take effect. See Radios & SDRs for the full workflow.

Antennas

The right antenna does more for range than anything else in the kit.

Band Antenna Notes
ADS-B 1090 MHz Tuned 1090 MHz ADS-B antenna A tuned whip or collinear outperforms the bundled telescopic. height and line of sight matter most
UAT 978 MHz 978 MHz or wideband ADS-B antenna US-only band. A wideband ADS-B antenna covers both 978 and 1090 acceptably
AIS (VHF) Marine VHF antenna (161-162 MHz) A proper VHF marine antenna dramatically improves vessel range

Range in the field

In a San Diego backpack test with no internet, a tuned ADS-B setup reached 55 miles of aircraft coverage. See Introduction for the full CONOP.

GPS / GNSS

A USB GNSS puck gives the gateway its own position. AryaOS publishes it through GPSCOT and LINCOT. This supports mobile backpack and vehicle operations.

  • Any gpsd-compatible USB GNSS receiver works (the popular u-blox ⅞-class pucks are common choices).
  • GPS is optional for fixed-site installs but recommended for mobile and dismounted use.
  • See Own position (GPS) to put the gateway on the map.

Power & battery for backpack ops

AryaOS is designed for disconnected, dismounted use - no LTE, no Wi-Fi backhaul required. Power is the most common field failure, so size it correctly:

  • Raspberry Pi 5: use a 5V/5A (27 W) USB-C PD supply - the official Raspberry Pi 27 W supply, or a charger that explicitly lists a 5V/5A output. (Earlier Pis: a Pi 4 wants a solid 5V/3A source.)
    • A high-wattage GaN charger is not a substitute. Multi-port GaN bricks (e.g. Anker Prime 100 W, UGREEN Nexode) deliver 5A only at 9-20 V. At 5 V they cap at 3A (15 W). Thus, a Pi 5 runs starved and browns out under load. Verify the 5V/5A line item, not the total wattage.
  • SDRs draw additional current. AryaOS ships usb_max_current_enable=1, so the Pi 5 feeds the full USB budget to the radios. But only if the supply can actually deliver it. Size the battery/supply for the Pi plus every attached radio.
  • PoE: the Waveshare PoE M.2 HAT+ (and similar) output 5V/4.5A (~22.5 W) on 802.3at (PoE+). Enough for a Pi 5 with an NVMe SSD and a couple of SDRs. But only from a true PoE+ (802.3at) source. A plain 802.3af switch or injector (~13 W) will brown the box out. Use PoE+ (802.3at) or PoE++ (802.3bt).
  • A powered USB hub can help when running multiple SDRs on a Pi ¾.

If the supply cannot keep up, AryaOS enters safe mode after repeated short boots. It turns off USB peripherals and sensors but remains reachable. Install an adequate supply before you restore normal operation. The AryaOS Site page also shows power warnings from vcgencmd get_throttled.

See Disconnected / backpack ops for the full field loadout.

Safe mode

If the device reboots repeatedly, the power supply can be underspecified. AryaOS enters safe mode after three consecutive short boots:

  • USB peripherals are powered off and the sensor/SDR services are withheld, so the box idles at minimal draw and boots cleanly.
  • Ethernet, SSH and Cockpit stay up, so you can always get in and diagnose.
  • It is sticky - clear it from Cockpit > AryaOS Site > Safe mode ("Restore now" or "Restore & reboot"), or on the command line with sudo aryaos-safe-mode off. Check state any time with aryaos-safe-mode status.

The usual fix is a better power supply (above). Safe mode buys you a reachable box to fix instead of a dark one in a crash loop.

The pre-built AirTAK go-kit

The AirTAK go-kit is an assembled and tested gateway with AryaOS installed. Use it when you do not want to build a kit.

  • Buy assembled - Pi, radios, antennas, GPS, enclosure, and AryaOS in one box. Buy hardware
  • Build your own - Use the tables above, then flash the image.

Next steps