SoftRF      

     

DIY, multi-functional, compatible, sub-1 GHz ISM band radio based proximity awareness system for general aviation.

Features

• Wearable
  • Pocket Edition 
  • Badge Edition 
  • Card Edition 
  • Bracelet Edition
• Plug-and-Play
  • Dongle Edition
• Portable
  • Concorde Edition 
  • Airventure Edition 
  • Handheld Edition 
  • Gizmo Edition 
  • Prime Mark III
  • Prime Mark II
• Classic 2.25 inch instrument
  • Standalone Edition
• Wireless 2.7 inch E-Ink display
  • SkyView Pico
  • SkyView EZ
• Certified (CE/FCC)
  • Badge Edition
  • Prime Mark III
  • Solaris Edition 
  • Pocket Edition 
  • Handheld Edition 
  • Prime Mark II
  • Uni Edition
  • Mini Edition
  • Lego Edition
  • Balkan Edition
  • Card Edition
• can receive ADS-B air traffic
  • 978 UAT
    • Uni Edition
  • 1090 ES
    • ES Edition
    • Concorde Edition 
    • Retro Mark II 
  • 1090 ES and/or 978 UAT
    • Raspberry Edition
• can operate multiple protocols at the same time
  • Octave Concept
  • Duo Concept
• has flight recorder
  • Prime Mark III
  • Flight Recorder
• Weatherproof
  • Solaris Edition  - IP65
  • Pocket Edition  - IP66
  • Card Edition  - IP65
  • Lego Edition - IP67
• UAV add-on
  • Nano Edition 
  • UAV Edition
• Raspberry Pi friendly
  • Raspberry Edition
  • SkyView Pi
• for education purpose
  • Academy Edition
• for amateur radio operators
  • Ham Edition
• made in EU
  • Balkan Edition

Compatibility ¹

Type	Protocol	FLARM	OGN tracker	PilotAware	Skytraxx	SoftRF
Radio	FLARM AIR V7				2
	OGNTP					3
	P3I					3
	FANET+					3
	978 UAT ADS-B					4
	1090 ES ADS-B			5		5
	SRD 860 ADS-L
	APRS					6
	Remote ID
Data	FLARM NMEA
	Garmin GDL90
	MAVLINK
	Dump1090  7

¹ - it is necessary for a reader to distinguish the difference between statement "compatible" and statement "fully compatible".
     SoftRF implements only a reasonable minimum of the protocols specs. No "bells and whistles" so far.
² - FANET+ can not receive FLARM. However it is able to transmit it.
³ - valid for Prime Mark III , Prime Mark II , Dongle , Mini , Badge , Bracelet , Academy , Octave , Lego , Balkan , Midi , Eco , Card , Cozy , Handheld , Gizmo , Nano , Airventure , Solaris , Pocket , Labubu and Concorde Editions ; valid for Standalone , UAV and Uni Editions with optional DIY SoftRF LoRa RF module
⁴ - Reception of traffic 'downlink' frames only. Valid for Uni Edition alone and for Standalone Edition with optional DIY SoftRF UAT module
⁵ - Reception of traffic 'downlink' frames only. Valid for ES Edition
⁶ - APRS is the only available with Ham Edition
⁷ - also known as "raw ADS-B"

Models

By Processing Unit

Model(s)	Platform	First appearance	Status	Notes
1 Prime 2 Standalone 3 UAV 4 WebTop Serial	Espressif ESP8266	Q4 2015		Prime model is no longer supported - use Prime MkII instead.
1 Prime Mark II 2 Standalone + adapter 3 UAV 4 SkyView EZ 5 Flight Recorder	Espressif ESP32	Q1 2018		1 today's best platform ; 2 holds FCC mark
1 Raspberry Edition 2 SkyView Pi	Broadcom BCM283X (Raspberry Pi)	Q4 2018		Good for use together with RTL-SDR dongles to achieve additional 1090ES (and 978UAT) ADS-B air traffic reception.
UAT module	Texas Instruments CC1310	Q1 2019		Unique RF radio specs are useful for UAT978 ADS-B reception [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
1 Retro 2 Dongle 3 Bracelet 4 Retro Mark II	STMicroelectronics STM32F103 and STM32L073	Q3 2019
Uni	Texas Instruments CC13x2R	Q2 2020		1 Unique RF radio specs are useful for UAT978 ADS-B reception ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
Mini	Cypress PSoC 4100S	Q3 2020		1 good add-on candidate for modded Kobo e-Readers ; 2 holds FCC/CE mark
1 Badge 2 Card  3 Cozy 4 Handheld  5 Solaris  6 Pocket	Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840	Q4 2020		holds FCC/CE mark
ES	NXP Semiconductors LPC4320	Q2 2021		Unique RF radio specs are useful for 1090ES ADS-B reception [ 1 , 2 ]
1 Academy 2 USB2BT	Microchip (Atmel) SAM D21	Q4 2021		good for teaching students of air traffic proximity awareness
Octave	ASR Microelectronics ASR6601	Q1 2022		the best 'price per radio protocol' ratio on the market
1 Lego 2 SkyView Pico	Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2040	Q1 2022		holds FCC/CE mark
Balkan	STMicroelectronics STM32WLE5	Q3 2022		holds CE mark
WebTop USB	Espressif ESP32-S2	Q4 2022
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Nano	Espressif ESP32-C3	Q1 2023		RISC-V
1 Prime Mark III 2 SkyView Pico 3 Ham 4 Midi 5 Gizmo  6 Airventure	Espressif ESP32-S3	Q1 2023
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Eco 3 Duo	Espressif ESP32-C6	Q1 2024		2 RISC-V cores big.LITTLE
Academy  upgrade	Renesas RA4M1	Q1 2024
Academy	Silicon Labs EFx32	Q3 2024
Academy	Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics CH32V307	Q3 2024		RISC-V IMAFC
1 Standalone upgrade 2 SkyView Pico	Raspberry Pi Foundation RP2350	Q1 2025
1 Standalone upgrade 2 Lyra	Rockchip RK3506	Q3 2025
Concorde	Espressif ESP32-P4	Q3 2025
Academy	Espressif ESP32-C5	Q3 2025
Labubu	STMicroelectronics STM32WL55	Q4 2025
Academy	Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15	Q1 2026

By sub-1 GHz radio

Radio	Model(s)	First appearance	Status	Notes
Nordic Semiconductor nRF905	1 Prime 2 Standalone 3 UAV	Q4 2015
Semtech SX1276	1 LoRa module 2 Prime Mark II 3 Raspberry Edition 4 Dongle 5 Academy	Q4 2017
Texas Instruments CC1310	UAT module	Q1 2019
Semtech SX1231	Retro	Q3 2019		operates through OGN driver with OGNTP protocol only
Semtech SX1262	1 Prime Mark II 2 Mini 3 Badge 4 Lego 5 Balkan 6 Prime Mark III 7 Midi 8 Cozy 9 Handheld  10 Gizmo  11 Airventure  12 Lyra  13 Solaris  14 Concorde	Q1 2020
Texas Instruments CC13x2R	Uni Edition	Q2 2020
Maxim Integrated MAX2837 and MAX5864	ES Edition	Q2 2021		Software Defined Radio
NiceRF SA868	Ham Edition	Q3 2023		VHF or UHF "Ham Radio" bands
Semtech LR1110	1 Card  2 Pocket	Q3 2024
Semtech LR1121	1 Standalone 2 Prime Mark III 3 Nano	Q4 2024		2.1 GHz S-band 2.4 GHz ISM
Semtech SX1231 TI CC1101 Silicon Labs Si4432 Silicon Labs Si4463	Standalone	Q1 2025
Semtech LR2021	1 Standalone 2 Retro Mark II	Q1 2026		the radio can receive ADS-B @ 1090 MHz

By GNSS chip

GNSS	Model(s)	First appearance	Status	Notes
Generic NMEA	Standalone	Q4 2016
U-blox 6/7/8/9/10	1 Prime Mark II 2 Retro 3 Uni 4 Lego 5 Balkan 6 Prime Mark III	Q2 2018
Hangzhou ZhongKe AT6558	1 Prime Mark II 2 Mini 3 Badge 4 Prime Mark III 5 Ham 6 Cozy 7 Handheld  8 Airventure  9 Lyra  10 Solaris  11 Pocket  12 Concorde	Q2 2019
Sony CXD5603GF	1 Dongle	Q4 2019
MediaTek MT3339	1 Raspberry 2 Uni 3 Academy 4 Lego	Q3 2020
GOKE GK9501	Mini	Q3 2020
UniCore UC6580	Midi	Q3 2023
Airoha AG3335	Card	Q3 2024

By OEM

OEM	Model(s)
LilyGO / TTGO	1 Prime Mark II 2 Prime Mark III 3 Dongle 4 SkyView EZ 5 Bracelet 6 Badge 7 WebTop USB 8 Ham 9 Eco 10 Labubu 11 Concorde
Elecrow	1 Handheld 2 Gizmo 3 Airventure 4 Solaris 5 Pocket
Heltec Automation	1 Mini 2 Midi 3 Cozy
Waveshare Electronics	1 SkyView Pi 2 SkyView Pico
Seeed Studio	1 USB to Bluetooth 2 Card
Texas Instruments	Uni
Great Scott Gadgets	ES
Rak Wireless	Lego
Olimex	Balkan
RadioMaster RC	Nano
Ebyte	Retro Mark II

Documentation

• SoftRF overview
  • Part 1 (PDF, December 2015)
  • Part 2 (PDF, March 2017)
• Prime Edition MkIII
  • Quick start
  • Screen pages
  • Aircrafts database
  • GNSS access
• Badge Edition
  • Quick start
  • Screen pages
  • Bluetooth LE
  • Aircrafts database
  • Enclosure
  • Display care
  • Expansion module

• Prime Edition MkII

  • Quick start
  • Enclosure
  • Firmware update
    • USB
    • webUI
    • programming device

• Standalone Edition

  • Specifications
  • Shield
  • Modules
  • Assembly
  • Enclosure
  • ESP32 adapter
  • ESP32-C3 upgrade
  • ESP32-C6 upgrade

• Card Edition 

  • Quick start

• Ham Edition

  • Quick start

• ES Edition

• Eco Edition

• Duo Concept

• Octave Concept

• Uni Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Enclosure

• Cozy Edition

  • Quick start

• Midi Edition

  • Quick start

• Mini Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Quick start
  • Enclosure

• Dongle Edition

  • Firmware installation
  • Quick start
  • Settings
  • Enclosure

• Lego Edition

• Balkan Edition

• Academy Edition

• UAV Edition

  • Bill of materials
  • Wiring and pin-out
  • Enclosure

• Raspberry Edition

• SkyView

  • EZ
    • Quick start
    • Settings
    • Enclosure
    • Dual boot
  • Pi

• WebTop USB

• WebTop Serial

  • Quick start

• Flight Recorder

  • Quick start

• Software

  • Firmware
    • Release information
    • Binary
    • Settings
    • Update (Web method)
    • Source

• Extras

  • Long range (LoRa) RF module
    • Frequency deviation
  • Protocols
    • UAT
    • OGNTP
    • P3I Open (PilotAware)
    • FANET (Skytraxx)
  • Garmin GDL90 datalink
    • SkyDemon
    • Avare
    • ForeFlight
  • Integration with airborne (Stratux, PilotAware,...) and groundstation (FlightRadar24, FlightAware,...) ADS-B receivers
  • Combined use of multiple SoftRF units

• Archive

  • Prime Edition
    • Bill of materials
    • Wiring
    • Enclosure
  • Retro Edition
  • Applications
    • Emulator

Highlights

• Badge Edition

• Prime Edition Mark III

• Prime Edition Mark II

• Airventure Edition 

• Concorde Edition 

• Retro Edition Mark II 

• Solaris Edition 

• Pocket Edition 

• Card Edition

• Nano Edition

• Gizmo Edition

• ES Edition

• SoftRF Tool

• Standalone Edition

• Uni Edition

• Dongle Edition

• Ham Edition

• Cozy Edition

• Midi Edition

• Mini Edition

• SkyView EZ

• Lego Edition

• Balkan Edition

• Academy Edition

• Octave Concept

• UAV appliance

• Raspberry Edition

• Flight Recorder