OGN Tracker

Introduction

You don't have FLARM but would like to be visible on OGN when you fly? Your club's fleet is not equipped with FLARMs, yet you would like them to be "in", so that you can profit from the automatic flight logbook, be able to easily download IGC files after flights, monitor your young pilots during their first cross-country flights? Maybe you'd like your fleet to be tracked during competition to attract more attention to our beloved "sport without tribunes" ? Finally, you might want to increase security by allowing for very quick search for lost aircrafts and possibly real-time notifications(SAR).

You will find all the information on OGN trackers you need on this page. Most importantly you will find information on how to create an inexpensive tracker yourself!

The idea in a nutshell

The goal behind the idea of OGN trackers was to create a tracking device:

  • that can be used in gliders, para gliders, drones and other aircraft, compatible with the network of OGN receivers.
  • oriented towards position reporting and long reception range.
  • cheap! Making the hardware easily affordable is essential for this device to be successful.
  • using an open protocol - OGN tracking protocol (OGNTP).
  • relaying position messages from other aircraft e.g. flying lower to help to locate out-landings and to significantly increase reception range.
  • finally, a device that you can build on your own ! and which would not require a lot of technical skills.

More on technical requirements

We want the trackers to:

  • be powered with internal rechargeable batteries (e.g. AA NiMH batteries, or "Nokia" Li-Ion type battery, like e.g. Nano logger) yet with the possibility to be plugged easily into glider's cabling (RJ-11 or RJ-45 plug)
  • be small, lightweight. portable.
  • be able to use max. allowed transmission power on its dedicated frequency (up to 25mW?)
  • have black casing - to avoid reflects when installed on the instruments board.

Additionally OGN trackers:

  • could have microSD card slot and could be logging IGC files.
  • could have miniUSB port to recharge it (+ it could be recognized as USB drive by a PC ?)
  • RJ-45 could serve both: as power entry + RS-232 (like Volkslogger)
  • could have Bluetooth module, to pair it with a smartphone, or a PNA/PDA (like e.g. in case of Nano logger)
  • could have barometric pressure sensor

(Non)Compatibility with FLARM

OGN tracker is not compatible with FLARM. It transmits packets is a counter phase to flarm's frequencies and with different format thus OGN packets can not be received by a FLARM unit. Incompatibility is on a hardware level: nRF905 RF chip used by FLARM uses specific preamble which is different from one used by RF chips used by OGN. However, OGN stations based on DVB-T SDR radios and software processing are able to demodulate and decode packets received from both OGN trackers and FLARM units.

Build yourself a DIY OGN Tracker

Visit the above page to learn how to build an OGN tracker and become visible on the OGN.
Easlier project is based on the STM32 CPU and RFM69 RF chip, another project based on ESP32 modules.

I don't want (or have time) to build one myself. Can I buy it ?

Yes, some community members are already offering OGN trackers for sell. For the details, however please take a direct contact with the seller.

Supplier
ibisek.com
Soartronic
Avionix Engineering
Please add your site/contact here if you are offering ready-to-buy OGN Trackers

A bit of history

Information collected as a result of ongoing work in the previous years on the subject of ogn trackers has been moved here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License