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Welcome to the ESP-MeteoPlaneRadar Wiki

ESP-MeteoPlaneRadar is an open-source, touch-operated tactical flight tracking and meteorological radar station designed specifically for the ESP32-S3 paired with a round 2.1-inch 480x480 IPS capacitive touch display (Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-2.1 / ST7701 / CST820).

The device tracks real-time aircraft overhead via ADS-B networks and renders precipitation radar composites from SHMÚ, RainViewer, and ČHMÚ, complete with real-time aircraft photo fetching from Planespotters.net, captive portal Wi-Fi provisioning, and a fully featured responsive Web Dashboard.

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🚀 Key Highlights

Feature	Description
ADS-B Tactical Radar	Real-time live aircraft tracking up to 250 simultaneous targets with proximity prioritization, heading vectors, altitude color coding, and climb/descent indicators.
DigiCat Pixel Art Companion	Full-screen interactive companion drawer (Swipe Up) featuring full-body handcrafted 32-frame pixel art DigiCat, autonomous AI cat brain with free will, jumping, face washing, stretching, airfield exploration, return-on-call, treat feeding, and Gemini Live AI thoughts.
YouTube Channel Analytics	Live channel telemetry powered by YouTube Data API v3: subscriber count in bold 32px FONT_HERO typography, total views with video count chip, and latest uploaded video stats with NEW badge.
ISS Orbit Tracker	Space situational awareness tracking the International Space Station on a 320×160 world map with astronomical day/night solar terminator, orbit ground tracks, line-of-sight footprint, next pass countdown, and Control Center alert toggle.
Financial Markets & Crypto	Real-time tracking of 4 customizable market tickers (ETFs, Stocks, Commodities, Crypto, Forex) via Yahoo Finance v8 with interactive sparkline price charts.
Precipitation Nowcasting (TREC)	2D spatial cross-correlation vector analysis tracks precipitation cells between radar frames, alerting strictly when precipitation is moving towards your location ($v_{radial} > 0$, miss distance $\le 15\text{ km}$, $\text{ETA} \le 60\text{ min}$).
Precipitation Classification	Automatically classifies approaching fronts into Rain, Sleet, Snow, or severe Hail ($>50\text{ dBZ}$) using radar reflectivity and local temperature telemetry.
Daily Flight Traffic Statistics	Dedicated display screen tracking 24-hour airspace records in PSRAM: unique aircraft count, peak speed, maximum distance, altitude envelope, and total ADS-B messages.
Overhead Aircraft Alert	Cylindrical proximity detection for aircraft flying directly overhead (customizable 1–50 km radius) with Clock face badges and acoustic chimes.
Active Buzzer System	Onboard acoustic alerts for emergency squawks, watched flights, overhead passes, approaching storms, hourly chimes, and touch feedback with automatic night-time mute.
Ultra Night Mode	Deep-red sleep monochrome mode running at ultra-low backlight brightness (0.5%) to preserve dark-adapted vision and eliminate room glow.
Remote Screen Capture	One-click uncompressed 24-bit BMP screenshot capture directly from the display framebuffer over the web interface.
Triple Weather Providers	Seamless precipitation radar integration featuring SHMÚ (Slovakia high-res composite), RainViewer (Global radar/satellite tiles), and ČHMÚ (Czech Republic radar).
Planespotters.net Photo Fetch	Tap any aircraft on screen to retrieve registration details, aircraft type, operator, and high-resolution spotter photo directly from the Planespotters API.
Smart Modal Auto-Close	Aircraft info and photo cards automatically dismiss after an idle period (default: 10 seconds post-load) so your radar overview is never blocked indefinitely.
Responsive Web Dashboard	Modern web interface for live map visualization, coordinate configuration, provider selection, metric/imperial unit toggling, and firmware updates.
Emergency Squawk Alert	Automatic auto-switching to Tactical screen when transponder codes 7500 (hijack), 7600 (radio loss), or 7700 (emergency) are detected, featuring auto-centering and red/white warning halos.
Wi-Fi Captive Portal	Seamless first-time Wi-Fi setup via built-in SoftAP with auto-redirecting captive portal (defaults to English on initial boot).
Over-The-Air (OTA) Updates	Simple one-click binary flashing directly over Wi-Fi without needing a USB cable.

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📖 Wiki Navigation

Use the sidebar navigation or explore the following sections:

🛠️ Hardware & Setup

• Hardware & Pinout – Technical specifications of the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-2.1 board, ST7701 RGB LCD, CST820 touch, and wiring pinout.
• Installation & Flashing – Flashing via Web Flasher, PlatformIO CLI, partition layouts, and factory vs OTA images.
• Initial Setup & Wi-Fi – Captive portal Wi-Fi configuration, mDNS network discovery, and connection verification.

📱 Features & Operation

• Screens & Navigation – Detailed breakdown of the Tactical, Compass, Weather, Aircraft Detail, and Diagnostics views.
• Aircraft Radar (ADS-B) – In-depth explanation of ADS-B data parsing, capacity management, proximity retention, and altitude scales.
• Weather Radar Providers – Technical details on SHMÚ, RainViewer, and ČHMÚ radar layers, color dBZ scales, and automatic fallback.
• Web Interface & Settings – Complete guide to the integrated Web GUI, parameters, and REST API endpoints.

❓ Troubleshooting & Reference

• Troubleshooting & FAQ – Common pitfalls, Wi-Fi reconnection, display issues, serial log analysis, and frequently asked questions.

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⚡ Quick Specs

• Microcontroller: Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 (Dual-core Xtensa LX7 @ 240 MHz)
• Flash & Memory: 16 MB Quad-SPI Flash, 8 MB Octal-SPI PSRAM
• Display: Round 2.1" 480x480 IPS RGB LCD (ST7701 controller, 16-bit parallel RGB interface)
• Touch: Capacitive touch controller (CST820, I2C interface)
• Peripherals: TCA9554 GPIO expander, QMI8658 6-axis IMU, PCF85063 RTC
• Power: 5V DC via USB Type-C (~250–380 mA typical)
• Framework: Arduino-ESP32 / PlatformIO