SoftRF      

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

Features

• Wearable
  • Badge Edition 

• Plug-and-Play
  • Dongle Edition
• Portable
  • Prime Mark II
• Classic 2.25 inch instrument
  • Standalone Edition
• Certified (CE/FCC)
  • Uni Edition
  • Mini Edition
  • Lego Edition 
• Wireless 2.7 inch E-Ink display
  • SkyView EZ
• can receive ADS-B air traffic
  • 978 UAT
    • Uni Edition
  • 1090 ES
    • ES Edition 
  • 1090 ES and/or 978 UAT
    • Raspberry Edition
• Weatherproof
  • Lego Edition  - IP67
• UAV add-on
  • UAV Edition
• Raspberry Pi friendly
  • Raspberry Edition
  • SkyView Pi
• for education purpose
  • Academy Edition

Compatibility ¹

Type	Protocol	FLARM	OGN tracker	PilotAware	Skytraxx	SoftRF
Radio	FLARM AIR V6				2
	OGNTP					3
	P3I					3
	978 UAT ADS-B					4
	1090 ES ADS-B					5
	FANET+					3
Data	FLARM NMEA
	Garmin GDL90
	MAVLINK
	Dump1090  6

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 II , Dongle , Mini , Badge , Bracelet , Academy and Lego 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 - also known as "raw ADS-B"

Models

By Processing Unit

Model(s)	Platform	First appearance	Status	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 6 WebTop USB	Espressif ESP32 ESP32-S2 ESP32-S3	Q1 2018		Today's best platform
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.
1 UAT module 2 Uni	Texas Instruments CC1310 and CC1352R	Q1 2019		1 Unique RF radio specs are useful for UAT978 ADS-B reception [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
1 Retro 2 Dongle	STMicroelectronics STM32	Q3 2019
Mini	Cypress PSoC 4100S	Q3 2020		1 good add-on candidate for modded Kobo e-Readers ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
Badge	Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840	Q4 2020
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
Lego	Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2040	Q1 2022		holds FCC/CE mark

By sub-1 GHz radio

Radio	Model(s)	First appearance	Status	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	Q1 2020
Texas Instruments CC1352R	Uni Edition	Q2 2020
Maxim Integrated MAX2837 and MAX5864	ES Edition	Q2 2021		Software Defined Radio

By GNSS chip

GNSS	Model(s)	First appearance	Status	Notes
Generic NMEA	Standalone	Q4 2016
U-blox 6/7/8	1 Prime Mark II 2 Retro 3 Uni 4 Lego	Q2 2018
Hangzhou ZhongKe AT6558	1 Prime Mark II 2 Mini 3 Badge	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

Documentation

• SoftRF overview
  • Part 1 (PDF, December 2015)
  • Part 2 (PDF, March 2017)
• Badge Edition
  • Quick start
  • Screen pages
  • Bluetooth LE
  • Aircrafts database
  • Enclosure
  • Display care
  • Expansion module

• Prime Edition MkII

  • Quick start
  • Enclosure
  • Firmware update
    • USB
    • webUI
    • programming device

• Standalone Edition

  • Specifications
  • Shield
  • Modules
  • Assembly
  • Enclosure
  • ESP32 adapter

• ES Edition 

• Uni Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Enclosure

• Mini Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Quick start
  • Enclosure

• Dongle Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Quick start
  • Settings
  • Enclosure

• Lego Edition 

• Academy Edition

• UAV Edition

  • Bill of materials
  • Wiring and pin-out
  • Enclosure

• Raspberry Edition

• SkyView

  • EZ
    • Quick start
    • Settings
    • Enclosure
    • Dual boot
  • Pi

• 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
    • UAT
    • OGNTP
    • P3I Open (PilotAware)
    • FANET (Skytraxx)
  • Garmin GDL90 datalink
    • SkyDemon
    • Avare
    • ForeFlight
  • Integration with airborne (Stratux, PilotAware,...) and groundstation (FlightRadar24, FlightAware,...) ADS-B receivers
  • Combined use of multiple SoftRF units

• Archive

  • Prime Edition
    • Bill of materials
    • Wiring
    • Enclosure
  • Retro Edition
  • Applications
    • Emulator

Highlights

• Badge Edition

• Prime Edition Mark II

• ES Edition

• SoftRF Tool

• Standalone Edition

• Uni Edition

• Dongle Edition

• Mini Edition

• SkyView EZ

• Lego Edition 

• Academy Edition

• Octave Concept

• UAV appliance

• Raspberry Edition

• Flight Recorder