July 7, 2026
Description
A flight tracker for Raspberry Pi built for the Waveshare 4in touch display. The on-device UI is modeled after my other project, FlightScnr: dark radar aesthetic, animated sweep, map tiles, and gesture navigation. A built-in web portal configures everything from your phone or laptop on the same network.
FlightScnr Pi shows live aircraft around your pre set location on a circular radar, with rich flight details when you tap a plane. It combines FlightRadar24 (FR24), live positions from adsb.fi (free cloud feed — no local ADS-B dongle), Tomorrow.io weather, and optional AirLabs schedule data. Settings, API keys, tracking, and updates are managed through a local web portal. No SSH required for day-to-day use.
The UI is designed for a 4in round LCD with touch (default layout: 720x720).
| Screen | How to open | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Radar | Boot / home | Live aircraft, map background, sweep line, compass rose, range label, altitude tags |
| Flight detail | Tap aircraft on radar | Airline logo, route, type, altitude, speed, heading; swipe or footer to cycle aircraft |
| Tracked flight | Web portal → Track, or swipe right on radar | Route header, progress bar with aircraft icon, LIVE/ETA, vertical speed ticker; pin to keep screen open |
| Clock and current weather | Swipe down from radar | Time, date, current weather and conditions |
| Weather Forecast | Swipe right from clock | Multi-day forecast (Tomorrow.io) |
| Clock settings | Swipe left from clock | Clock format and related options on-device |
| About / details | Swipe up from radar | Version, network, API status, portal URL |
| Settings | Swipe left from radar | Brightness, timeouts, color theme, display options (multi-page) |
Gestures and controls
Pick any callsign in the web portal. The display shows origin → destination, aircraft type, a progress bar with a moving plane icon, and live stats (time remaining, distance, vertical speed). Flights not yet airborne can use AirLabs schedule data when configured.
Open from any device on your LAN:
http://<hostname>.local (default port 80; change with WEB_PORT in /etc/flightscnr.env)
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Radar | Set radar center (lat/lon), range, distance units, min altitude, color theme, compass, sweep |
| Display & screens | Brightness, flight-detail and clock timeouts, auto-return to clock when empty |
| Off-hours | Night schedule - dim, turn off display, or show clock |
| Weather | °C / °F for clock and forecast |
| Alerts | Military, emergency squawk, watch list, hide non-alerted aircraft |
| Tracking | Track a callsign; route search (origin + destination) for live flights |
| API keys | FR24, Tomorrow.io, AirLabs - save or save & restart |
| Updates | Check GitHub for new releases; Update Now runs git pull and re-syncs (git checkout required) |
| System | Reboot or Shutdown the Pi remotely |
Portal preferences are stored on the Pi in /var/lib/flightscnr/ and apply without wiping on update.
| Source | Required? | Provides |
|---|---|---|
| FR24 API | Yes (full app) | Routes, airlines, flight details, tracked flights, enriched radar |
| adsb.fi | Optional (on by default) | Free live positions over the internet — merges with FR24 or fills the radar when FR24 is off (ADSB_ENABLED=True). Not a USB ADS-B receiver. |
| Tomorrow.io | Yes (weather) | Clock temperature and multi-day forecast |
| AirLabs | Optional | Scheduled departure info when a tracked flight is not yet airborne |
API responses are cached (e.g. FR24 feed ~90s, flight details ~30 min, weather ~1 hr) to reduce quota use during 24/7 operation. Offline databases (airports.json, airlines.json, icao_types.json) download on first run.
License:
Standard Digital File License
yashmulgaonkar
