[Hackrf-dev] Adding HackRF support to dump1090

[Ilker Temir]

Hello,

I am trying to add HackRF support to Salvatore Sanfilippo's dump1090 
tool (https://github.com/antirez/dump1090) as a learning exercise. The 
tool was originally designed for RTL SDR devices. However, I can't seem 
to get this port to work.

To eliminate potential issues in my code, I simplified the 
troubleshooting steps. Here are the basic set of troubleshooting steps I 
am using:

Per tool's documentation, a data file can be captured with rtl_sdr 
utility in the following way:

         rtl_sdr -f 1090000000 -s 2000000 -g 50 output.bin

Then you can pipe it into dump1090 like this:
         dump1090 --ifile output.bin

I made an assumption that the HackRF equivalent of rtl_sdr command above 
would be the following:

         hackrf_transfer -r output.bin -f 1090000000 -s 2000000 -p 0 -a 
0 -l 40 -g 62

However, capturing packets with HackRF this way and piping them into 
dump1090 doesn't do anything. I have tried this sitting next to an 
airport and capturing packets while planes were landing and taking off. 
I don't have an RTL SDR dongle so I can't test the rtl_sdr command 
myself. It didn't make to sense to buy a RTL SDR device after HackRF but 
if I can't crack this, I am considering to buy one.

BTW, I also tried different gain settings, and sample rate of 8e6 with 
hackrf_transfer, no difference. That said, I never enabled amp_enable.

Would anyone know if rtl_sdr and hackrf_transfer capture the packets in 
the same way and format? Or do I need to do some kind of a conversion or 
translation in between the two to make them compatible?

Any help or idea will be appreciated.

P.S. I am aware of gr-air-modes for HackRF to decode ADS-B signals. My 
goal is to hack dump1090 and add HackRF support as a learning exercise.

Thanks,

Ilker
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