ATTENTION: it is strongly recommended to only use the following open standards based protocols: ADS-L, OGN or FANET

ATTENTION: only T-Beam, T-Beam S3 Supreme and T-Echo binaries are provided/tested on a regular basis

It is recommended to consider the following alternatives:

• SoftRF fork with a lot of enhancements: https://github.com/moshe-braner/SoftRF
• ADS-L/OGN/FANET tracker implementation: https://github.com/pjalocha/ogn-tracker (WIP)

General Features:

• option to enter AircraftID (through SoftRF WiFi settings page: http://192.168.1.1/settings)
  • if added (AircraftID: <ICAO hex Code>), then ADDR_TYPE_ICAO is set (this is based on the assumtion that your airplane has a transponder)
  • if not added, then the SoftRF factory ID remains (AircraftID: 0) and ADDR_TYPE_FLARM is set

T-Beam and T-Beam S3 Supreme Features:

• USB mode (default): enable SoftRF to work as a proper GNSS and Baro source for Stratux
• Bluetooth LE mode (requires settings change, see below): enable SoftRF to work as a proper traffic rx/tx and GNSS source for SkyDemon

T-Echo Features:

• enable SoftRF to work as a proper traffic rx/tx and GNSS source for SkyDemon (through Bluetooth LE)

UF2 Binaries

UF2 binaries are available for the following platforms and can be downloaded as part of SoftRF.zip from here: https://github.com/VirusPilot/SoftRF/actions (click on the latest workflow run and download SoftRF.zip "Artifact"):

T-Beam S3 Supreme - UF2 update method (aka. USB Mass Storage method):

• connect your T-Beam S3 Supreme to your PC and put it in UF2 upload mode (press RESET and shortly thereafter BOOT)
• upload the SoftRF.zip/esp32.esp32.esp32s3/SoftRF.ino.uf2 file to the TBEAMBOOT drive, see also: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/blob/master/software/firmware/binaries/README.md#esp32-s3

T-Echo - UF2 update method (aka. USB Mass Storage method):

• connect your T-Echo to your PC and put it in UF2 upload mode (double-click RESET)
• upload the SoftRF.zip/adafruit.nrf52.pca10056/SoftRF.ino.uf2 file to the NRF52BOOT or TECHBOOT drive that shows up on your PC, see also: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/blob/master/software/firmware/binaries/README.md#nrf52840

"classic" Binaries

"classic" binaries are available for the T-Beam up to v1.2 and can be downloaded as part of SoftRF.zip from here: https://github.com/VirusPilot/SoftRF/actions (click on the latest workflow run and download SoftRF.zip "Artifact"):

• connect your T-Beam to your PC (via USB)
• open https://espressif.github.io/esp-launchpad/ with your Chrome browser, select "DIY" and "connect" your T-Beam
• it may be necessary the execute "Erase Flash" once
• upload all files from the SoftRF.zip/esp32.esp32.esp32 folder according to the following order and execute "Program":

T-Beam and T-Beam S3 Supreme modifications:

• u-blox GNSS configuration:
  • enable GSA, GSV, VTG, GST
  • enable GPS, GALILEO, BEIDOU and SBAS (u-blox 10 default)
  • enable NMEA extended protocol
• default connection with Stratux: USB (115200 baud), the USB T-Beam connection with Stratux works best if init_uart_baud=115200 is added to the /boot/config.txt file on the Raspberry Pi (/boot/firmware/config.txt for Bookworm)

T-Echo modifications:

• L76K GNSS configuration:
  • enable GSA, GSV, VTG
  • enable GPS, GLONASS and BEIDOU
• LK8EX1 messages over serial connection are disabled

Limitations:

• GNSS update rate is limited to 1 Hz in SoftRF, which is good enough for Stratux except when using GNSS as a pseudo AHRS (internally all u-blox based T-Beams use 10Hz measurement rate)
• the L76K only supports the NMEA "strict" protocol version, therefore some extended satellite information (like elevation, azimut and numbering) is not provided for some satellites and therefore the GNSS info page in Stratux is incomplete. Furthermore BEIDOU satellites are not displayed at all but are in fact used and counted for "in solution"
• if your T-Beam or T-Echo has a baro sensor (e.g. BMP280) included, you can omit your Stratux baro module as SoftRF is providing the baro altitude to your Stratux

Recommendations for T-Beam S3 Supreme:

• load OGN database: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/wiki/Prime-Edition-MkIII#aircrafts-database
• modify SoftRF settings (https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/wiki/Settings), using the SoftRF WiFi settings page: http://192.168.1.1/settings

Recommendations for T-Beam:

• modify SoftRF settings (https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/wiki/Settings), using the SoftRF WiFi settings page: http://192.168.1.1/settings

Recommendations for T-Echo:

• load OGN database: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/wiki/Badge-Edition.-Aircrafts-database
• modify SoftRF settings (https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/wiki/Settings) by downloading the following scripts, opening them in a browser to generate the appropriate $PSRFC and $PSKVC sentences and then sending these generated sentences to the SoftRF device via a serial USB console (e.g. Arduino IDE comes with a nice built in serial USB console):
  • https://github.com/VirusPilot/SoftRF/blob/master/software/app/Settings/basic.html (e.g. Protocol, Aircraft type, Aircraft ID)
  • https://github.com/VirusPilot/SoftRF/blob/master/software/app/Settings/ui.html (e.g. Units, e-Paper 'ghosts' removal)

DANGER ZONE - NOT RECOMMENDED FOR UNEXPERIENCED USERS

Compiling/Flashing from Source Code

You need to be familiar with Arduino to compile and flash it for your platform. You need to install the latest version of Arduino IDE and add the following two entries into the Additional Board Manager URLs:

• T-Beam and T-Beam S3 Supreme: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json
• T-Echo: https://adafruit.github.io/arduino-board-index/package_adafruit_index.json

Arduino IDE settings for T-Beam

• Install "esp32 by Espressif" version 2.0.9 under "BOARDS MANAGER"
• Select Tools -> Board -> ESP32 Dev Module
• Select Tools -> CPU Frequency -> 240MHz
• Select Tools -> Flash Frequency -> 80MHz
• Select Tools -> Flash Mode -> DIO
• Select Tools -> Flash Size -> 4MB
• Select Tools -> Partition Scheme -> minimal SPIFFS (1.9MB APP with OTA/190KB SPIFFS)
• Select Tools -> PSRAM -> Enabled
• Select Tools -> Upload Speed -> 921600
• Select Tools -> open serial monitor @ 115200 baud
• connect your T-Beam
• Select Tools -> Port -> (select accodingly)
• compile/upload

Arduino IDE settings for T-Beam S3 Supreme (Caution: the UF2 firmware upload option will no longer work after the following steps)

• Install "esp32 by Espressif" version 2.0.9 under "BOARDS MANAGER"
• Select Tools -> Board -> ESP32S3 Dev Module
• Select Tools -> CPU Frequency -> 240MHz
• Select Tools -> Flash Frequency -> 80MHz
• Select Tools -> Flash Mode -> QIO
• Select Tools -> Flash Size -> 8MB
• Select Tools -> Partition Scheme -> 8M with spiffs (3MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS)
• Select Tools -> PSRAM -> QSPI PSRAM
• Select Tools -> Upload Speed -> 921600
• Select Tools -> Upload Mode -> USB-OTG CDC (TinyUSB)
• Select Tools -> USB Mode -> USB-OTG CDC (TinyUSB)
• Select Tools -> USB Firmware MSC on Boot -> disabled
• Select Tools -> USB DFU on Boot -> disabled
• Select Tools -> USB CDC on Boot -> enabled
• connect your T-Beam S3 Supreme
• put your T-Beam in Espressif Service Mode (press and keep holding BOOT, press and release RESET, thereafter release BOOT)
• compile/upload
• press RESET

alternative for T-Beam S3 Supreme (and if you want to maintain the UF2 firmware upload option):

• follow all steps above but do NOT compile/upload
• select Export Compiled Binary and then locate SoftRF.ino.bin
• convert SoftRF.ino.bin to UF2 using uf2conv.py SoftRF.ino.bin -c -b 0x00 -f 0xc47e5767 -o SoftRF.ino.uf2 (from https://github.com/microsoft/uf2/tree/master/utils)
• connect your T-Beam S3 Supreme and put it in UF2 upload mode (press RESET and shortly thereafter BOOT)
• upload the SoftRF.ino.uf2 file to the TBEAMBOOT drive, see also: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/blob/master/software/firmware/binaries/README.md#esp32-s3

Arduino IDE settings for T-Echo

• Install "Adafruit nRF52 by Adafruit" under "BOARDS MANAGER"
• Select Tools -> Board -> Nordic nRF52840 DK
• connect your T-Echo
• Select Tools -> Port -> (select accodingly)
• compile/upload

alternative for T-Echo:

• follow all steps above but without compile/upload
• select Export Compiled Binary and then locate SoftRF.ino.bin
• convert SoftRF.ino.bin to UF2 using uf2conv.py SoftRF.ino.bin -c -b 0x00 -f 0xADA52840 -o SoftRF.ino.uf2 (from https://github.com/microsoft/uf2/tree/master/utils)
• connect your T-Echo and put it in UF2 upload mode (double-click RESET)
• upload the SoftRF.ino.uf2 file to the NRF52BOOT or TECHBOOT drive, see also: https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/blob/master/software/firmware/binaries/README.md#nrf52840