AIS for Raspberry with Map, Dispatcher

Updated 2023-11-04, OK with Bookworm 32 bit !

Not Bookworm 64 Bit !

This is a setup, on a Raspberry Pi(RPi), with a software package, AIS Dispatcher, from http://www.aishub.net which includes

• receiving and processing of all standard AIS messages
• streaming raw AIS feeds to multiple destinations
• advanced monitoring of device status, coverage and message statistics
• embedded electronic map with all received vessels

The best AIS application ? is found here !

Introduction

An alternative application, OK with Bookworm 32/64 bit, could be the SW package AIS receiver with OpenSeaMap where you also can see AtoN:s, buoys and beacons. There are also plugins available for AIS forwarding.

On the same RPi I have installed;

• AIS dispatcher application
• RTL-SDR dongle, approx 30 €, or the even better NooElec NESDR Nano 3, as the AIS receiver
• An application with 2 channel support which is interfacing the dongle, decoding the information, and sending NMEA 0183(N1) data to AIS dispatcher

Starting fresh ?

The applications needs a computer running Linux and if you want to start from scratch, with a RPi, here is a how to.

Installation of AIS Dispatcher
Follow the instructions where the installation is ending with 

........

........

Install complete

By default web interface is accessible at http://IPADDRESS:8080/

To change default listening host/port check "/home/ais/etc/aiscontrol.cfg"

To disable auto start execute "loginctl disable-linger ais"

:: Available IP Addresses

eth0             DOWN           

wlan0            UP             192.168.68.110/24 

Application for the RTL-SDR

Alternative 1

A software package, recommended, which is used by OpenPlotter is found here.

Alternative 2(Note !! this app is not available anymore) 

An older package, which is working well is aisdeco2.

Install some dependences for the aisdeco2 software, with

$ sudo apt-get install librtlsdr-dev

On Your PC or Mac download the aisdeco2 software

In this download You will get a readme file with info about the package

Copy the "aisdeco2" file to the RPi, with the hostname "rpiais". On a Mac with following command which will put the file in pi home folder

$ scp aisdeco2 pi@rpiais:

In a ssh session on the RPi issue the command

$ sudo mv aisdeco2 /usr/local/bin

which will move the program to the right place. 

Plugin the RTL-SDR dongle, with a connected antenna, to the RPi and then the command 

$ sudo aisdeco2 --udp 127.0.0.1:10110

which will show something like 

2019-01-26 19:15:38.303  INFO     AiSDeco2 v.20180430
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Supported Gains (dB):.. 37.2 38.6 40.2 42.1 43.4 43.9 44.5 48.0 49.6
Freq: 162.000 MHz
Freq Correction: 0 ppm
Gain: Auto
2019-01-26 19:16:16.383  INFO     !AIVDM,1,1,,A,13o1h>00280qdj:P61hdBqpR0D2?,0*60

The "--udp 127.0.0.1:10110" in the command line means that the N1 output should be sent  as UDP from local host, IP  127.0.0.1, on port 10110.

The last line is an AIS N1 output "!AIVDM,1,1,,A,13o1......."

Let the program run

AIS Dispatcher configuration
Open the GUI and complete the configuration with "Input" according to the picture and the rest according to Your setup.

If the aisdeco2 program is listing any N1 messages the vessels should appear in the GUI map. See above picture.

Dispatcher
One purpose with the AIS dispatcher software is to dispatch, send, AIS information to Vessel tracking sites like

• Vesselfinder
• Marinetraffic

If You do this You probably will get an "Premium" account and can retrieve information from the sites. Sign up and You will get a web address and a port number which will be used in the AIS Dispatcher "Configuration => Output"

Another way using this software could be installing it on a Raspberry Pi Zero W and use it as a standalone AIS receiver/dispatcher on Your boat or at home. As a source for maybe

• OpenPlotter, OpenCPN or SignalK
• iSailor

Adding an output in AIS Dispatcher with UDP output, port 10001, and host IP/name to Your iPhone/iPad, with iSailor installed, the setup will be as enclosed picture.

Remarks

Monitor failure

In this post I built an application that sends an alert if no AIS message haven't appeared within a certain time.

Improve receiving range?

Calibrate ! Instructions in this post

UDP as input

Using UDP as input gave me problem specifying the specific IP adress, but using IP "0.0.0.0" made it work ?

Old rPiAIS

This post was initially written for the older software rPiAIS, which didn't work with RPi 4, but updated for the mentioned AIS dispatcher. (The GUI is almost the same)