Summary
ESP32-S3 flight tracker displays near-real-time flights via OpenSky API and polls every 120s.
Dual-screen (TFT+OLED) and joystick/buttons give console-like controls for selecting planes.
Originally part of a handheld console project; code and build instructions are on GitHub.
If you’re into aviation and tinkering with devices, the past few weeks have been a goldmine for you. We previously saw a Raspberry Pi project that turned your ceiling into a sky tracker, followed closely by a project that added the fame functionality to a tidy desk device. Now, a few weeks later, we’ve seen a third aviation-based DIY project hit the market, and the funny part is, it didn’t begin its life as a flight tracker.
The ESP32 Flight Tracker is a cool way to surveil the skies
It wasn’t meant to be a flight tracker at first
Over on the ESP32 subreddit, GitHub user emir173 posted images of their ESP32 Flight Tracker. It’s a cool little device that shows all the flights happening around the world and lets you pick out specific airplanes to bring up their data. Here’s how emir173 describes it:
A near real-time, live Flight Tracker built for the ESP32-S3. This project utilizes the OpenSky Network API to fetch live aircraft data (polling every 120 seconds) and renders them on a beautiful dual-screen setup (TFT + OLED) with a dual-core architecture.
It was originally built as a module for a custom handheld game console, but has been extracted here as a standalone project for anyone to build and enjoy!
Because the device was meant to become a handheld console, you get a nice joystick and buttons to control what’s happening on the screen. If you’ve ever played a videogame with a controller, you’ll likely be able to pick up the controls for the ESP32 Flight Tracker really easily.
You can see all the details, check out the code, and follow the instructions to make your own over on the project’s GitHub page.
Related
Someone turned a GameCube keychain into an actual working controller with an RP2040
More controllers are in the works.