RempyRadar: round-screen flight radar desk toy (XIAO ESP32-S3)
A sonar-style radar that shows live nearby aircraft from ADS-B data on a 1.28in round screen, compass-stabilised.
Key Facts
- Chip: ESP32-S3 (XIAO, 8 MB PSRAM required)
- Display: 1.28in 240x240 GC9A01A round TFT
- Sensor: MMC5603 magnetometer
- Data: live ADS-B over Wi-Fi
About This Project
RempyRadar fetches live ADS-B flight data over Wi-Fi and draws aircraft as fading pings on a rotating radar sweep, with nearby airports, a clock and a wind widget. A magnetometer keeps the display oriented to magnetic north. The parts list is short and STEMMA QT-friendly, making it an easy, charming desk build. New project with few stars so far.
Source & Attribution
Illustration
Parts Needed
- Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 with 8MB OPI PSRAM (the plain version won't work)
- Adafruit 1.28in 240x240 round TFT (GC9A01A, EYESPI)
- Adafruit MMC5603 magnetometer (for the compass, still a work in progress)
- Wires
- USB data cable
Steps
- 1
Wire it
Connect the display to the XIAO's SPI pins as listed in the README's wiring table. The magnetometer needs four wires: VIN to 3V3, GND, SDA to D4 and SCL to D5.
- 2
Install PlatformIO
Use PlatformIO through the VS Code extension or the CLI. The project doesn't support the Arduino IDE. PSRAM settings and libraries are already in platformio.ini.
- 3
Flash firmware and web files
Run pio run --target upload and then pio run --target uploadfs. You need both on a new device, because the setup page lives in LittleFS and the portal shows an error without it.
- 4
Configure
On first boot, connect to the RempyRadar Wi-Fi hotspot. The captive portal asks for your Wi-Fi details, home location (coordinates or an address) and display preferences. Settings are saved and the device reboots into radar mode.
- 5
Updates
After the first USB flash, the device checks GitHub releases and updates itself over Wi-Fi. Only re-run uploadfs if the web UI files change.
- 6
Tips
Compass stabilisation is a work in progress and needs the spin calibration plus 'Set North'. Aircraft data refreshes about every 20 seconds.
Not included: 3D-printed case, wire, solder, USB cable
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