lyusupov/SoftRF

✈️ Multi-functional, compatible DIY general aviation proximity awareness system

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3,301 commits

updated Oct 15, 2026

See the code

README

SoftRF

DIY, multi-functional, compatible, sub-1 GHz ISM band radio based proximity awareness system for general aviation.

Features

Wearable
Plug-and-Play
- Dongle Edition
Portable
Classic 2.25 inch instrument
- Standalone Edition
Wireless 2.7 inch E-Ink display
- SkyView Pico
- SkyView EZ
Certified (CE/FCC)
can receive ADS-B air traffic
- 978 UAT
  - Uni Edition
- 1090 ES
- 1090 ES and/or 978 UAT
  - Raspberry Edition
can operate multiple protocols at the same time
- Octave Concept
- Duo Concept
has flight recorder
- Prime Mark III
- Flight Recorder
Weatherproof
- Card Mark III - IP66
- Card Mark II - IP66
- Card Edition - IP65
- Solaris Edition - IP65
- Pocket Edition - IP66
- Lego Edition - IP67
UAV add-on
- Nano Edition
- UAV Edition
Raspberry Pi friendly
- Raspberry Edition
- SkyView Pi
for education purpose
- Academy Edition
for amateur radio operators
- Ham Edition
made in EU
- Balkan Edition

Compatibility ¹

Type	Protocol	PilotAware	Skytraxx	SoftRF
Radio	FLARM AIR V7		²
	OGNTP			³
	P3I			³
	FANET+			³
	978 UAT ADS-B			⁴
	1090 ES ADS-B	⁵		⁵
	SRD 860 ADS-L
	APRS			⁶
	Remote ID
Data	FLARM NMEA
	Garmin GDL90
	MAVLINK
	Dump1090 ⁷

¹ - it is necessary for a reader to distinguish the difference between statement "compatible" and statement "fully compatible".
SoftRF implements only a reasonable minimum of the protocols specs. No "bells and whistles" so far.
² - FANET+ can not receive FLARM. However it is able to transmit it.
³ - valid for Prime Mark III , Prime Mark II , Dongle , Mini , Badge , Bracelet , Academy , Octave , Lego , Balkan , Midi , Eco , Card , Cozy , Handheld , Gizmo , Nano , Airventure , Solaris , Pocket , Labubu and Concorde Editions ; valid for Standalone , UAV and Uni Editions with optional DIY SoftRF LoRa RF module
⁴ - Reception of traffic 'downlink' frames only. Valid for Uni Edition alone and for Standalone Edition with optional DIY SoftRF UAT module
⁵ - Reception of traffic 'downlink' frames only. Valid for ES Edition
⁶ - APRS is the only available with Ham Edition
⁷ - also known as "raw ADS-B"

Models

By Processing Unit

Model(s)	Platform	First appearance	Notes
1 Prime 2 Standalone 3 UAV 4 WebTop Serial	Espressif ESP8266	Q4 2015	Prime model is no longer supported - use Prime MkII instead.
1 Prime Mark II 2 Standalone + adapter 3 UAV 4 SkyView EZ 5 Flight Recorder	Espressif ESP32	Q1 2018	1 today's best platform ; 2 holds FCC mark
1 Raspberry Edition 2 SkyView Pi	Broadcom BCM283X (Raspberry Pi)	Q4 2018	Good for use together with RTL-SDR dongles to achieve additional 1090ES (and 978UAT) ADS-B air traffic reception.
UAT module	Texas Instruments CC1310	Q1 2019	Unique RF radio specs are useful for UAT978 ADS-B reception [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
1 Retro 2 Dongle 3 Bracelet 4 Retro Mark II	STMicroelectronics STM32F103 and STM32L073	Q3 2019
Uni	Texas Instruments CC13x2R	Q2 2020	1 Unique RF radio specs are useful for UAT978 ADS-B reception ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
Mini	Cypress PSoC 4100S	Q3 2020	1 good add-on candidate for modded Kobo e-Readers ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
1 Badge 2 Card 3 Cozy 4 Handheld 5 Solaris 6 Pocket 7 Card Mark II 8 Card Mark III 9 Stylus	Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840	Q4 2020	holds FCC/CE mark
ES	NXP Semiconductors LPC4320	Q2 2021	Unique RF radio specs are useful for 1090ES ADS-B reception [ 1 , 2 ]
1 Academy 2 USB2BT	Microchip (Atmel) SAM D21	Q4 2021	good for teaching students of air traffic proximity awareness
Octave	ASR Microelectronics ASR6601	Q1 2022	the best 'price per radio protocol' ratio on the market
1 Lego 2 SkyView Pico	Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2040	Q1 2022	holds FCC/CE mark
Balkan	STMicroelectronics STM32WLE5	Q3 2022	holds CE mark
WebTop USB	Espressif ESP32-S2	Q4 2022
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Nano	Espressif ESP32-C3	Q1 2023	RISC-V
1 Prime Mark III 2 SkyView Pico 3 Ham 4 Midi 5 Gizmo 6 Airventure 7 Prime Mark IV	Espressif ESP32-S3	Q1 2023
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Eco 3 Duo	Espressif ESP32-C6	Q1 2024	2 RISC-V cores big.LITTLE
Academy upgrade	Renesas RA4M1	Q1 2024
Academy	Silicon Labs EFx32	Q3 2024
Academy	Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics CH32V307	Q3 2024	RISC-V IMAFC
1 Standalone upgrade 2 SkyView Pico	Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2350	Q1 2025
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Lyra	Rockchip RK3506	Q3 2025
Concorde	Espressif ESP32-P4	Q3 2025
Academy	Espressif ESP32-C5	Q3 2025
Labubu	STMicroelectronics STM32WL55	Q4 2025
Academy	Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15	Q1 2026

By sub-1 GHz radio

Radio	Model(s)	First appearance	Notes
Nordic Semiconductor nRF905	1 Prime 2 Standalone 3 UAV	Q4 2015
Semtech SX1276	1 LoRa module 2 Prime Mark II 3 Raspberry Edition 4 Dongle 5 Academy	Q4 2017
Texas Instruments CC1310	UAT module	Q1 2019
Semtech SX1231	Retro	Q3 2019	operates through OGN driver with OGNTP protocol only
Semtech SX1262	1 Prime Mark II 2 Mini 3 Badge 4 Lego 5 Balkan 6 Prime Mark III 7 Midi 8 Cozy 9 Handheld 10 Gizmo 11 Airventure 12 Lyra 13 Solaris 14 Concorde 15 Stylus 16 Card Mark II	Q1 2020
Texas Instruments CC13x2R	Uni Edition	Q2 2020
Maxim Integrated MAX2837 and MAX5864	ES Edition	Q2 2021	Software Defined Radio
NiceRF SA868	Ham Edition	Q3 2023	VHF or UHF "Ham Radio" bands
Semtech LR1110	1 Card 2 Pocket	Q3 2024
Semtech LR1121	1 Standalone 2 Prime Mark III 3 Nano	Q4 2024	2.1 GHz S-band 2.4 GHz ISM
Semtech SX1231 TI CC1101 Silicon Labs Si4432 Silicon Labs Si4463	Standalone	Q1 2025
Semtech LR2021	1 Standalone 2 Retro Mark II 3 Card Mark III 4 Prime Mark IV	Q1 2026	the radio can receive ADS-B @ 1090 MHz

By GNSS chip

GNSS	Model(s)	First appearance
Generic NMEA	Standalone	Q4 2016
U-blox 6/7/8/9/10	1 Prime Mark II 2 Retro 3 Uni 4 Lego 5 Balkan 6 Prime Mark III 7 Stylus	Q2 2018
Hangzhou ZhongKe AT6558	1 Prime Mark II 2 Mini 3 Badge 4 Prime Mark III 5 Ham 6 Cozy 7 Handheld 8 Airventure 9 Lyra 10 Solaris 11 Pocket 12 Concorde 13 Card Mark II 14 Prime Mark IV	Q2 2019
Sony CXD5603GF	1 Dongle	Q4 2019
MediaTek MT3339	1 Raspberry 2 Uni 3 Academy 4 Lego	Q3 2020
GOKE GK9501	Mini	Q3 2020
UniCore UC6580	Midi	Q3 2023
Airoha AG3335	1 Card 2 Card Mark III	Q3 2024

By OEM

OEM	Model(s)
LilyGO / TTGO	1 Prime Mark II 2 Prime Mark III 3 Dongle 4 SkyView EZ 5 Bracelet 6 Badge 7 WebTop USB 8 Ham 9 Eco 10 Labubu 11 Concorde 12 Stylus 13 Card Mark II 14 Prime Mark IV
Elecrow	1 Handheld 2 Gizmo 3 Airventure 4 Solaris 5 Pocket
Heltec Automation	1 Mini 2 Midi 3 Cozy
Waveshare Electronics	1 SkyView Pi 2 SkyView Pico
Seeed Studio	1 USB to Bluetooth 2 Card 3 Card Mark III
Texas Instruments	Uni
Great Scott Gadgets	ES
Rak Wireless	Lego
Olimex	Balkan
RadioMaster RC	Nano
Ebyte	Retro Mark II

Documentation

SoftRF overview
- Part 1 (PDF, December 2015)
- Part 2 (PDF, March 2017)
Prime Edition MkIII
Badge Edition

Prime Edition MkII
- Quick start
- Enclosure
- Firmware update
Standalone Edition
- Specifications
- Shield
- Modules
- Assembly
- Enclosure
- ESP32 adapter
- ESP32-C3 upgrade
- ESP32-C6 upgrade
Card Edition
- Quick start
Ham Edition
- Quick start
ES Edition
Eco Edition
Duo Concept
Octave Concept
Uni Edition
- Firmware installation
- Enclosure
Cozy Edition
- Quick start
Midi Edition
- Quick start
Mini Edition
- Firmware installation
- Quick start
- Enclosure
Dongle Edition
- Firmware installation
- Quick start
- Settings
- Enclosure
Lego Edition
Balkan Edition
Academy Edition
UAV Edition
- Bill of materials
- Wiring and pin-out
- Enclosure
Raspberry Edition
SkyView
- EZ
- Pi
WebTop USB
WebTop Serial
- Quick start
Flight Recorder
- Quick start
Software
- Firmware
  - Release information
  - Binary
  - Settings
  - Update (Web method)
  - Source
Extras
- Long range (LoRa) RF module
  - Frequency deviation
- Protocols
- Garmin GDL90 datalink
- Integration with airborne (Stratux, PilotAware,...) and groundstation (FlightRadar24, FlightAware,...) ADS-B receivers
- Combined use of multiple SoftRF units
Archive
- Prime Edition
- Retro Edition
- Applications
  - Emulator

Highlights

Badge Edition

Prime Edition Mark III

Prime Edition Mark II

Airventure Edition

Concorde Edition

Card Edition Mark III

Retro Edition Mark II

Solaris Edition

Pocket Edition

Nano Edition

Gizmo Edition

ES Edition

SoftRF Tool

Standalone Edition

Uni Edition

Dongle Edition

Ham Edition

Cozy Edition

Midi Edition

Mini Edition

SkyView EZ

Lego Edition

Balkan Edition

Academy Edition

Octave Concept

UAV appliance

Raspberry Edition

Flight Recorder

ads-b

aprs

aviation

esp32

flarm

gliding

hackrf

lora

lr2021

mavlink

nrf54l15

ogn

paragliding

radio

rk3506

rp2350

soaring

traffic

ttgo

uav

Project health

Overall

3.4/10

Maintained

10/10

Code review

0/10

OpenSSF Scorecard

Significant stargazers

Jonathan Rudenberg

729 followers · starred Jan 2021

Yegor Yefremov

55 followers · starred Nov 2019

Adrian Pistol

106 followers · starred Sep 2025

frhun

7 followers · starred Jan 2022

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