sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsbexchange

Docker container to feed ADS-B data into adsbexchange. Designed to work in tandem with sdr-enthusiasts/docker-readsb-protobuf or another BEAST provider. Builds and runs on x86, x86_64, arm32v7 & arm64v8.

The container pulls ADS-B information from a BEAST provider and sends data to adsbexchange.

For more information on adsbexchange, see here: ADSBExchange How-To-Feed. This container uses a modified version of the "script method" outlined on that page.

Supported tags and respective Dockerfiles

• latest is built from the main branch within 24 hours of a commit to the base image and/or any adsbexchange software included in the image. It contains:
  • Versions of mlat-client and readsb specified in adsbxchange/adsb-exchange/setup.sh
  • Latest version of adsbexchange-stats
  • Latest released version of rtl-sdr
• latest_nohealthcheck is the same as the latest version above. However, this version has the docker healthcheck removed. This is done for people running platforms (such as Nomad) that don't support manually disabling healthchecks, where healthchecks are not wanted.
• Specific version and architecture tags are available if required, however these are not regularly updated. It is generally recommended to run latest.

Configuring sdr-enthusiasts/adsbexchange Container

• If you're using this container with the sdr-enthusiasts/docker-readsb-protobuf container to provide ModeS/BEAST data, and the containers are on different docker networks or on different hosts:
  • You'll need to ensure you've opened port 30005 (or whatever port is serving BEAST data) into the sdr-enthusiasts/docker-readsb-protobuf container.
  • The IP address or hostname of the docker host running the sdr-enthusiasts/docker-readsb-protobuf container should be passed to the sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsbexchange container via the BEASTHOST environment variable shown below. The port can be changed from the default of 30005 with the optional BEASTPORT environment variable if required.
• The latitude and longitude of your antenna must be passed via the LAT and LONG environment variables respectively.
• The altitude of your antenna must be passed via the ALT environment variable respectively. Defaults to metres, but units may specified with a 'ft' or 'm' suffix.
• A UUID for this feeder must be passed via the UUID environment variable (see below).
• Lastly, you should specify a site name via the SITENAME environment variable. This field supports letters, numbers, - & _ only. Any other characters will be stripped upon container initialization.

Generating a site UUID Number

First-time users should generate a static UUID using this command:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid

Take note of the UUID returned. You should pass it as the UUID environment variable when running the container.

You will be able to view your site's stats by visiting https://www.adsbexchange.com/api/feeders/?feed=YOUR-UUID-HERE. The link with your UUID will be printed to the container log when the container starts.

Up-and-Running with docker run

docker run \
 -d \
 --rm \
 --name adsbx \
 -e TZ=YOUR_TIMEZONE \
 -e BEASTHOST=beasthost \
 -e LAT=-33.33333 \
 -e LONG=111.11111 \
 -e ALT=50m \
 -e SITENAME=My_Cool_ADSB_Receiver \
 -e UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx \
 --tmpfs=/run:rw,nosuid,nodev,exec,relatime,size=64M,uid=1000,gid=1000 \
 ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsbexchange:latest

Up-and-Running with Docker Compose

First timers are encouraged to read ADS-B Reception, Decoding & Sharing with Docker.

An example docker compose service definition is below:

adsbexchange:
  image: ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsbexchange:latest
  tty: true
  container_name: adsbx
  restart: always
  environment:
    - BEASTHOST=beasthost
    - TZ=Australia/Perth
    - LAT=-33.33333
    - LONG=111.11111
    - ALT=50m
    - SITENAME=My_Cool_ADSB_Receiver
    - UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
  tmpfs:
    - /run:rw,nosuid,nodev,exec,relatime,size=64M,uid=1000,gid=1000

Check if everything is working

• https://www.adsbexchange.com/myip/
• https://map.adsbexchange.com/mlat-map/

Runtime Environment Variables

There are a series of available environment variables:

Environment Variable	Purpose	Default
BEASTHOST	Required. IP/Hostname of a Mode-S/BEAST provider (dump1090)
BEASTPORT	Optional. TCP port number of Mode-S/BEAST provider (dump1090)	30005
UUID	Required. Your static UUID
LAT	Required. The latitude of the antenna
LONG	Required. The longitude of the antenna
ALT	Required. The altitude of the antenna above sea level. If positive (above sea level), must include either 'm' or 'ft' suffix to indicate metres or feet. If negative (below sea level), must have no suffix, and the value is interpreted in metres.
SITENAME	Required. The name of your site (A-Z, a-z, -, _)
TZ	Optional. Your local timezone	GMT
REDUCE_INTERVAL	Optional. How often beastreduce data is transmitted to ADSBExchange. For low bandwidth feeds, this can be increased to 5 or even 10	0.5
PRIVATE_MLAT	Optional. Setting this to true will prevent feeder being shown on the ADS-B Exchange Feeder Map	false
MLAT_INPUT_TYPE	Optional. Sets the input receiver type. Run docker run --rm -it --entrypoint mlat-client ghcr.io/sdr-enthusiasts/docker-adsbexchange:latest --help and see --input-type for valid values.	dump1090
STATS_DISABLE	Optional. Set to any value to disable stats module / anywhere map (if you don't like lots of DNS lookups, set this to 1)	unset
ADSB_FEED_DESTINATION_HOSTNAME	Optional. Allows changing the hostname that ADS-B data is fed to.	feed.adsbexchange.com
ADSB_FEED_DESTINATION_PORT	Optional. Allows changing the TCP port that ADS-B data is fed to.	30005
ADSB_FEED_DESTINATION_TYPE	Optional. Allows changing the readsb output data type.	beast_reduce_out
MLAT_FEED_DESTINATION_HOSTNAME	Optional. Allows changing the MLAT server hostname.	feed.adsbexchange.com
MLAT_FEED_DESTINATION_PORT	Optional. Allows changing the MLAT server TCP port.	31090

Ports

Port	Purpose
30105	MLAT data in Beast format for tools such as graphs1090 and/or tar1090

Logging

• All processes are logged to the container's stdout, and can be viewed with docker logs [-f] container.

Getting help

Please feel free to open an issue on the project's GitHub.

I also have a Discord channel, feel free to join and converse.