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Quickstart

Get from a blank microSD card to live tracks on a phone in about 15 minutes. This guide uses the default Aircraft (ADS-B) setup. The same first steps apply to every mission.

What you need

  • A Raspberry Pi 4 (or ⅗) and a 16 GB+ microSD card (details).
  • A USB SDR dongle and 1090 MHz antenna for ADS-B.
  • A phone or tablet running ATAK (Android) or iTAK (iOS), or a computer running WinTAK.
  • A workstation to flash the card.

1. Flash the card

The short way, on Windows or Linux, is AryaOS Imager - a single-purpose build of Raspberry Pi Imager that offers only AryaOS. It downloads the image and removes the risk of selecting the wrong operating system.

  1. Install AryaOS Imager.
  2. Insert the microSD card, open the imager, and choose AryaOS (latest release).
  3. Select the card - this erases it - then write and let it verify.

On macOS, or if you already have the tools, download the latest aryaos-*.img.xz from GitHub Releases and write it with Raspberry Pi Imager (choose Use custom) or balenaEtcher. There is no macOS build of AryaOS Imager yet.

Do not fill in the OS-customization prompt if one appears. AryaOS sets its own hostname and hotspot on first boot, and pre-seeding those settings can conflict.

Full instructions, including verification: Flash the image.

2. Boot the box

  1. Insert the card, connect the SDR and antenna, and apply power.
  2. The first boot takes about 120 seconds while AryaOS expands its filesystem, assigns a unique hostname (aryaos-xxxx), and generates its identity. Later boots take about 90 seconds.
  3. When it is ready, AryaOS broadcasts a Wi-Fi network named AryaOS-xxxx (the same four characters as the hostname).

See First boot & first login for exactly what happens and how to set your password.

3. Connect a device

  1. On the phone, join the AryaOS-xxxx Wi-Fi network.
  2. The onboarding hotspot is open by default - you can set a WPA2 password later from the web console.
  3. Open your browser to https://aryaos-xxxx.local:9090/ (accept the self-signed certificate warning - the cert is unique to your device).

Note

If aryaos-xxxx.local does not resolve, browse to the gateway IP address. The hotspot uses 10.41.0.0/24, with the gateway at 10.41.0.1.

  1. Join the same Wi-Fi network, or plug the Pi into your LAN with Ethernet.
  2. Open https://aryaos-xxxx.local:9090/ in a browser.
  3. Log in as user pi. On a release image you will be prompted to change the default password on first login.

4. Point TAK at the gateway

Configure your TAK end-user device to receive Mesh SA - the local multicast CoT stream AryaOS broadcasts by default.

  1. Settings > Network Preferences > Network Connections.
  2. Ensure SA Multicast (Mesh SA) is enabled - this is on by default in most builds.
  3. Return to the map. Aircraft appear as they are received.
  1. Enable multicast SA in Settings > Network.
  2. If your network blocks multicast, use a direct feed instead - see Connect to a TAK Server or the NMEA/GDL90 options for ForeFlight & EFBs.

5. Confirm you see tracks

  • In the AryaOS web console, open AryaOS Site > Sensor services and confirm adsbcot and readsb are active.
  • On the TAK map, aircraft icons will appear within a minute if aircraft are in range of your antenna. A local ADS-B map is also served on the box (tar1090).

You are live

You now have a standalone ADS-B-to-TAK gateway. No internet was required.

Where to next