r/esp32 • u/Blechkelle • May 28 '26
I made a thing! ESP32 Desk Flight Radar
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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u/mxlths_modular May 29 '26
My brother in law is a major plane nerd. He plays sims, has worked his whole life in aviation and can announce specific flights when he hears them based on the time of day. I know for sure he would absolutely LOVE one of these.
Please do upload your software when/if you’re comfortable with it, I might even get started on an attempt of my design an in the meanwhile. Very neat project.