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What is AryaOS?

AryaOS is a Linux operating system that turns a small, inexpensive computer into a situational-awareness gateway for TAK. It ingests data from radios and sensors and converts it to Cursor on Target (CoT). CoT is the native language of ATAK, WinTAK, iTAK, and TAK Server. AryaOS then delivers it to local or remote operators.

Everything is pre-installed and pre-wired. You flash a card, power it on, and manage the whole system from a browser.

What it does

Any phone or computer running ATAK, WinTAK, or iTAK, paired to an AryaOS gateway, sees live tracks in native TAK formats:

  • Aircraft from ADS-B (1090 MHz) and UAT (978 MHz).
  • Vessels from AIS, over the air or from an online aggregator.
  • Drones from Remote ID and DJI DroneID.
  • Own position from an onboard GPS, shared to the whole team.

A single AryaOS box can run one mission or all of them at once. It can relay the combined picture to a TAK Server.

Proven in the field

The original AirTAK configuration puts an AryaOS box and ADS-B antenna in a backpack. A USB battery powers the box, and a phone connects over Wi-Fi without internet access. Operators have tracked aircraft at ranges past 50 miles. Teams use AryaOS for wildland fire, security, and search and rescue.

How it works

Sensors feed local CoT gateways, which all publish to a single on-box hub called COTBridge. COTBridge is the switchboard: it fans the combined picture out to the local Wi-Fi mesh (Mesh SA) and, optionally, upstream to a TAK Server. This hub-and-spoke design means you point your feeds at one place and change where the data goes in one place.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Sensors
        SDR[SDR radios<br/>1090 / 978 / AIS]
        RID[Remote ID<br/>drone receivers]
        GPS[GPS / GNSS]
    end
    subgraph AryaOS box
        ADSB[adsbcot]
        AIS[aiscot]
        DRONE[dronecot]
        LIN[lincot / gpscot]
        HUB{{COTBridge hub<br/>127.0.0.1:28087}}
        ADSB --> HUB
        AIS --> HUB
        DRONE --> HUB
        LIN --> HUB
    end
    SDR --> ADSB & AIS
    RID --> DRONE
    GPS --> LIN
    HUB -->|Mesh SA<br/>239.2.3.1:6969| EUD[ATAK / WinTAK / iTAK]
    HUB -->|TLS / enrollment| TAK[TAK Server]
    HUB -.->|GDL90| EFB[ForeFlight / EFB]

Each gateway is a small PyTAK program. Because They all share one framework, they behave consistently: the same TLS settings, The same URL schemes, the same site-wide configuration file. See the full software suite.

Managed from the browser

AryaOS is designed so an operator never needs to SSH in. A hardened Cockpit web console on port 9090 (reachable over HTTPS) exposes:

  • The AryaOS Site page - TAK destination, TLS certificates, TAK Server enrollment, device role, radios, updates, VPN, hotspot password, support bundles, and Node-RED admin password. See AryaOS Site.
  • The COTBridge lane editor - a structured editor for where CoT flows.
  • Per-gateway pages - one for each sensor (adsbcot, aiscot, dronecot, ...).

SSH is still available for advanced work, but it is never required for normal operation.

Device roles

Rather than shipping a different image per mission, one AryaOS image adapts at runtime. Pick a device role in the web console - Air, Maritime, Counter-UAS, Multi-sensor, or Relay - and AryaOS enables the right sensor pipelines and disables the rest. The CoT routing core always runs.

What's in the box

Layer What AryaOS provides
OS Debian-based, hardened, arm64 image for Raspberry Pi ¾/5
Sensors ADS-B/UAT decoders (readsb, dump978-fa), AIS (AIS-catcher), drone Remote ID, GPS (gpsd)
Gateways adsbcot, aiscot, dronecot, lincot, gpscot, gdlcot, cotbridge, and more
Admin Cockpit web console with the AryaOS Site page and per-gateway plugins
Networking Onboarding Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth PAN, Tailscale VPN, firewalld
Ops One-click updates, redacted support bundles, SBOMs, neighbor discovery

Next steps