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Progress on a handheld version

A project log for viz1090: an ADS-B visualizer

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nathanmatsudanathan.matsuda 12/19/2022 at 17:061 Comment

I started this project with a handheld plane tracker in mind, but lost interest because of the bulk and low performance I was getting out of Raspberry Pi 3s at the time. I regained interest when the compute module 4 came out, but it took forever to get one. Finally, I started putting this together a few months ago:

Inside we've got a compute module 4, a Waveshare CM4-DISP-BASE(A), a Noelec Nano 3, a Seeed Studio Lipo Rider Plus, and a 4000mAh battery.

The power supply and SDR modules are connected to the CM4 carrier with a really awful USB pigtail assembly for now:

I'm still in the trial-and-error phase of the enclosure design, but I'm working toward a version that has anodized front and rear panels so I can do away with the heat sinks, shaving off ~5mm of thickness in the process.

This still isn't a step toward the all-in-one board version of this that I really want to do, but this is compact enough to put in a jacket pocket now. I'll post the CAD files on the github when I've finished fiddling with them. 

Discussions

Timon wrote 01/12/2023 at 15:28 point

The almost finished version already looks awesome, for now, I'm building a scrappy version of your device (for lack of a 3rd printer and other tools needed). However, I hope to make it better as I go along. If someday you plan on selling a fully built version I'd definitely buy one.

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