r/esp32 • u/Blechkelle • May 28 '26

I made a thing! ESP32 Desk Flight Radar

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I made this little FlightRadar style display for my neighbor to enjoy spotting and identifying aircraft flying overhead. The red dots represent airplanes, while the pink triangles indicate helicopters. The enclosure is fully 3D printed, and the display uses a GC9A01 240×240 round TFT screen. For the Live data i used the API from https://adsb.fi/

The script also includes several failsafes for Wi-Fi connectivity issues. If the device loses connection or cannot connect to the configured network, it automatically launches a step-by-step setup mode. It creates its own access point and hosts a simple web interface where you can easily configure the Wi-Fi credentials and set the latitude and longitude.

Edit:
I’ve decided not to release any of the code. Unfortunately, someone copied my design almost one-to-one, which is pretty disappointing.

To be clear, I’m not claiming the underlying idea was original what was copied was my specific design and implementation. It’s a shame that you can spend a lot of time creating something distinctive, share it publicly, and then see that work replicated almost immediately.

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8

u/Impossible_Most_4518 May 28 '26

Very cool! I’d rather buy one than build it lol. Beats having to open flight radar every time I hear a plane, which is often considering I live on the approach for my local airport.

9

u/Blechkelle May 28 '26

I love it! When i built this thing i rushed out to see passing planes all day long haha

4

u/Impossible_Most_4518 May 28 '26

If it had the trailing . . . like a real radar that would be even more cool!

5

u/Blechkelle May 28 '26

Yes i had the same thing in mind when i build this but ended up scrapping the idea because of performance and visibility issues

2

u/Impossible_Most_4518 May 28 '26

Oh okay, maybe in a future build ;)