Getting Started

SkyTracker turns a Raspberry Pi (or any Linux SBC) with an RTL-SDR dongle into a real-time ADS-B ground station. It works fully offline at its core, and optionally connects to skytracker.ai for the community map, rarity scoring, and aircraft history.

What you'll need

  • A Linux single-board computer (Raspberry Pi 3, 4, or 5 recommended).
  • An RTL-SDR dongle. The RTL-SDR Blog V3 or V4 is the reference hardware.
  • A 1090 MHz antenna (even the small stock whip included with most SDR kits works).
  • Optional: a USB GPS dongle, if you want position to be picked up automatically. Otherwise SkyTracker will ask you for coordinates or auto-detect from your IP.

Full hardware recommendations are in Supported Hardware.

Install in one command

On a freshly-flashed Raspberry Pi OS Lite (or any Debian/Ubuntu-derived Linux), run:

curl -sSL https://get.skytracker.ai | sudo bash

The installer will:

  • Install readsb (ADS-B decoder, from wiedehopf's build, with full RTL-SDR support).
  • Install gpsd for GPS dongle support.
  • Download the SkyTracker agent binary.
  • Create a systemd service and start it on boot.

Already feeding FR24, FlightAware, ADS-B Exchange, or RadarBox? The installer will stop and ask you to read Running Alongside Other Feeders first. Don't worry — SkyTracker is designed to run next to your existing feeder, not replace it.

Claim your station

  1. Open the display URL after install completes: http://<device-ip>:8888
  2. Scan the QR code or copy the claim code shown on the display.
  3. On another device, visit skytracker.ai/claim and paste the code to attach the station to your account.

If you're running SkyTracker in Private mode (the default), no data leaves your device — skip the claim step and you're done.

Next steps