Pictured: Ubiquiti Bullet M2 connected to a USB-C PD cable, powered via a USB battery bank.

OpenWRT Remote ID Receiver

This guide describes the process of creating a FAA Remote ID broadcast receiver using commercial off the shelf components and open-source software. The receiver captures & analyzes Remote ID broadcasts from compliant UAV, UAS, Drones & other unmanned and uncrewed aircraft. Captured Remote ID broadcasts contain pertinant telemetry about the airborne object, including position, operator location, speed, heading & more. Remote ID data is viewed within the Wireshark packet capture software.

There are many RF waveforms for Remote ID. This receiver uses the 2.4 GHz WiFi Remote ID waveform - additional waveforms and frequencies are possible with further development.

Prerequisites

1. An OpenWRT compatible device with a WiFi chipset that supports Monitor Mode.
2. A computer with Wireshark software.
3. A LAN IP network connecting the Wireshark computer & the OpenWRT device.

Compatible & Verified devices:

• Ubiquiti Rocket M2 2.4 GHz Radio (AR9342)
• Ubiquiti Bullet M2 2.4 GHz Radio (AR9283)

Other compatible/unverified devices

Steps

OpenWRT device

1. Install OpenWRT.

2. Install tcpdump OPKG (via Internet access or manual copy):

   opkg update
   opkg install tcpdump
   

3. Enable monitor mode:

   uci set wireless.@wifi-device[0].disabled=0
   uci commit
   iw phy phy0 interface add mon0 type monitor;
   ifconfig mon0 up
   

Wireshark computer

1. Install Wireshark.
2. Install the Wireshark Remote ID Dissector.
3. Ensure network connectivity to OpenWRT device: ping 192.168.0.1
4. Run tcpdump on the OpenWRT host and pipe output to Wireshark, using ssh:

   ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.0.1 tcpdump -i mon0 -U -s0 -w - 'not port 22'|\
   /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/Wireshark -k -i -
   

• Change 192.168.0.1 to the IP address of your OpenWRT device.
• Change /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/Wireshark to the path to the Wireshark executable on your computer.

Results

Within Wireshark you should begin to see OPENDRONEID packets in the Protocol column. You can filter for these packets by using the filter: opendroneid

Remote ID packet details

Capture Remote ID with tshark

tshark is Wireshark's command-line tool.

Capture Remote ID as JSON with tshark

tshark can transform (serialize) Remote ID packets as JSON by adding the -T json flag.

Analyze Remote ID with Node-RED

Options:

1. Remote ID can be saved to a JSON file using the -T json transform and read-into Node-RED using the file-in Node.
2. Remote ID can be transformed to JSON using -T json and piped to Node-RED with Netcat & a tcp-in Node.
3. Remote ID can be transformed to JSON using -T json and piped into Node-RED via an exec Node.