Stratux

Flying, Tech
by Mike Clements

Summary

Stratux is an ADS-B “In” device for pilots. I built one back in 2016 and still use it today. It’s served me reliably for more than 1000 hours of flying all over the western USA, Canada and Alaska.

Stratux features

  • FIS-B: Flight Information Services Bundle, which includes
    • ADS-B “In”: live traffic – other airplanes flying nearby
    • Weather: near-real-time
      • METAR and TAF
      • NEXRAD radar
      • AIRMETs and SIGMETs
      • PIREPs
    • TFRs: temporary flight restrictions
  • GPS: a built-in GPS that is faster and more accurate than the built-in GPS in most phones and tablets

How Stratux works

Stratux is open source software that runs on a Raspberry Pi computer. The Pi has some dongles plugged into its USB ports to handle the radios (ADS-B, GPS), and a couple of small antennas to pick up the radio signals. Parts include:

  • Raspberry Pi 3B (or later) with SD card
  • ADS-B 978 dongle
  • ADS-B 1090 dongle
  • GPS dongle
  • Barometric sensor dongle
  • Antennas for the dongles.

Mandatory minimum parts are in bold face.

The Stratux picks up data in real-time over the antenna, processes and converts the data, and transmits it on a local Wi-Fi broadcast from the Raspberry Pi.

How to Build a Stratux

Building a Stratux is simple:

  • Buy the parts
  • Plug them into each other
  • Download the software
  • Copy it to the SD Card
  • Plug the SD Card into the Raspberry Pi

How to Use a Stratux

Before using a Stratux you need to make 2 decisions about where it will fit in your airplane:

  1. How to get its antennas to see the sky
  2. How to feed it power (a USB cable)

The most common way is to put the Stratux on top of the aircraft panel, where small antennas plugged into it can see the sky. Stratux is small and light enough you can do this with velcro tape.

The next most common way is to put the Stratux behind the panel (where you can’t see it). Then you need to find another place to put the antennas with wires connecting them to the Stratux.

When the Stratux is in your airplane and turned on, it broadcasts a local WiFi signal. Connect to its WiFi on your phone or tablet. Virtually all EFB software can show the data, so whatever you already use on Apple or Android (Foreflight, Droid EFB, Garmin Pilot, etc.) will work.

How Much Does a Stratux Cost?

If you buy one pre-built ready to plug in and use, they start around $400, like this one.

If you build it yourself, the price starts around $115 and goes up from there depending on how much functionality you want.

Bill of Materials

  • Raspberry Pi 3B+: $53
  • UAT Radio: $40
  • Micro SD Card: $20
  • GPS dongle: $20
  • 1090ES & UAT Radios (pair): $75
  • AHRS sensors: $40
  • Fan & heat sink: $6

From the above, you can build a Stratux as cheap as about $115. Add another $20 if you want GPS. Add $35 ($75 – $40) if you want ADS-B on both UAT and 1090. Add another $40 if you want an AHRS sensor.

The software automatically detects and uses whatever is plugged in, so setup is simple to non-existent.

References

Stratux home: https://stratux.me