An ESP32 based plane radar for my desk
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
An ESP32-C3 and round display create a live ADS-B aircraft radar.
The author built an ESP32-C3-based plane radar using a 1.28" round display and open-source firmware from GitHub. It pulls ADS-B data from adsb.fi, plotting aircraft by distance and bearing. The build required light soldering, took about 15 minutes, and firmware was flashed via browser in under 30 seconds. The author improved the fork with origin/destination info, aircraft type descriptions, local weather, temperature, humidity, time, and date. The web interface now allows changing coordinates and display options without resetting Wi-Fi. Authenticated OTA updates enable browser-based firmware uploads over Wi-Fi.
What commenters are saying
Commenters debate whether calling it a "radar" is accurate, since it uses ADS-B data from an external source rather than receiving or emitting radar signals. Some note that decoding ADS-B on an ESP32 is technically possible but challenging due to sample rate and USB bandwidth limits. Others suggest alternatives like a Pi Zero with an RTL-SDR for true ADS-B reception. The project is praised as a cool gadget, with several similar projects and products linked, including a GitHub repo for a mobile-app version and a pre-order product.