Glossary¶

Definitions of the terms used throughout the AryaOS documentation. Each term has a stable anchor so other pages can deep-link to it — for example #device_suffix or #cot.

ADS-B¶

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast. Aircraft broadcast their GPS-derived position, altitude, velocity, and identity, typically on 1090 MHz (worldwide) or 978 MHz UAT (US, low-altitude). AryaOS decodes ADS-B with readsb or dump1090-fa and turns it into TAK tracks via ADSBCOT. See Aircraft (ADS-B).

AIS¶

Automatic Identification System. Ships and other vessels broadcast their position, course, speed, and identity over VHF (161–162 MHz). AryaOS decodes AIS with ais-catcher and publishes vessels to TAK via AISCOT. See Maritime vessels (AIS).

ATAK¶

Android Team Awareness Kit. The Android TAK client (also referred to as ATAK-CIV in its civilian form). One of the TAK end-user devices that displays the tracks AryaOS produces. AryaOS also works with WinTAK, iTAK, TAKX, and TAK Server.

Charontak¶

The CoT "ferryman." On AryaOS, CharonTAK is the single egress hub: every local feeder sends CoT to it on udp+ro://127.0.0.1:28087, and CharonTAK forwards to the default Mesh SA multicast and to any configured TAK Server lanes. Its routing lanes are edited in /etc/charontak.ini via the Charontak lane editor. See CharonTAK.

Cockpit¶

The open-source, browser-based server management UI that AryaOS uses as its single admin surface. Cockpit serves HTTPS on port 9090 (also reachable through the portal proxy on 443). AryaOS adds a plugin for each gateway plus the "AryaOS Site" plugin. See AryaOS Site page.

COP¶

Common Operating Picture. A single, shared, real-time view of a situation — the aircraft, vessels, drones, and friendly positions relevant to a mission — assembled from multiple sensors. Building a COP for TAK is AryaOS's core purpose. See Multi-sensor COP.

CoT¶

Cursor on Target. The XML (and Protobuf) message format TAK uses to represent an "event" — an aircraft, vessel, drone, marker, or friendly position — with a location, type, and time. Every AryaOS gateway produces CoT. Written Cursor on Target (CoT) on first use per page.

cUAS¶

Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (also counter-UAS or C-UAS). Detecting, tracking, and maintaining awareness of drones. On AryaOS the cuas device role runs the drone pipelines (DroneCOT, DJICOT, SiKW00FCOT). See Counter-UAS (drones).

DEVICE_SUFFIX¶

DEVICE_SUFFIX is four lowercase hexadecimal characters derived on first boot from the last four characters of /etc/machine-id, or from the primary network interface MAC address if machine-id is unavailable. aryaos-firstboot.service writes it to /etc/aryaos/aryaos-config.txt and sets the system hostname to aryaos-xxxx (the same xxxx).

Used for:

System hostname: aryaos-xxxx
mDNS name: aryaos-xxxx.local
Comitup Wi-Fi hotspot SSID: AryaOS-xxxx
Default CoT source id: COT_HOST_ID=aryaos-xxxx

Do not edit DEVICE_SUFFIX after first boot

Changing it desynchronizes the hostname, the mDNS name (aryaos-xxxx.local), and the captive Wi-Fi SSID. Legacy images may still contain an unused NODE_ID= line in aryaos-config.txt; it is no longer written or read by AryaOS.

See First boot & first login.

GDL90¶

GDL90 is the datalink format that electronic flight bags (EFBs) such as ForeFlight consume for traffic and weather. AryaOS's GDLTAK converts CoT into GDL90 (default UDP port 4000) so aircraft tracks appear directly in an EFB. See ForeFlight & EFBs (GDL90).

Mesh SA¶

Mesh Situational Awareness. TAK's serverless, peer-to-peer mode: clients and gateways exchange CoT over a UDP multicast group without a central server. AryaOS's default egress is Mesh SA on multicast 239.2.3.1:6969 (udp+wo://239.2.3.1:6969), which lets phones on the hotspot see tracks with no TAK Server required. See Relay & routing.

PyTAK¶

Python Team Awareness Kit. The Python framework that every AryaOS gateway is built on. It handles CoT construction, TAK Server TLS, and CoT transport URLs like udp+wo:// and tls://. See PyTAK docs and Software suite.

Remote ID¶

The regulatory broadcast standard (Open Drone ID / ASTM Remote ID) by which drones announce their identity, position, and operator location. AryaOS captures Remote ID and DJI DroneID and publishes drones to TAK via DroneCOT and DJICOT. See Counter-UAS (drones).

SDR¶

Software-Defined Radio. A USB radio dongle (commonly an RTL-SDR / RTL2832U) whose demodulation happens in software, letting one piece of hardware receive many different signals. AryaOS uses SDRs for ADS-B, UAT, and AIS, distinguishing them by USB serial (stx:1090:0, stx:978:0). Manage them from Radios & SDRs.

TAK¶

Team Awareness Kit. A family of situational-awareness applications (ATAK, WinTAK, iTAK, TAKX) and the TAK Server that share a common map and the CoT message format. AryaOS is a gateway that feeds sensor data into TAK.

TAK Server¶

The central server component of TAK that relays CoT between many clients, manages users and channels, and issues client certificates for TLS. AryaOS can forward its CoT to a TAK Server — via a data package or a tak:// enrollment link — in addition to (or instead of) Mesh SA. See Connect to a TAK Server.

UAT¶

Universal Access Transceiver. The 978 MHz datalink used by some US aircraft (typically below 18,000 ft) as an alternative to 1090 MHz ADS-B. AryaOS decodes UAT with dump978-fa on a dedicated SDR serialized stx:978:0. See Aircraft (ADS-B).