Technology
Pants for Birds announces open-source ADSBee m1421 aircraft tracking module
The ultra-low-power dual-band ADS-B receiver is aimed at drone detect-and-avoid capabilities and embedded systems.
The short version
- Pants for Birds released the ADSBee m1421, a dual-band ADS-B receiver module for embedded systems and drone detect-and-avoid setups.
- The open-source module weighs under 2 grams, uses less than 60mW of power, and combines a Semtech LR2021 chip with a Texas Instruments CC1314 MCU.
- Single units are priced at $48 for the standard version and $75 for an NDAA-compliant model, with price parity expected by December 2026.
Key facts
- Pants for Birds unveiled the ADSBee m1421, an open-source dual-band ADS-B receiver module measuring 23.4 x 14.5 x 2.7 mm and weighing under 2 grams.[Hacker News]
- The receiver draws less than 60mW of power and integrates a Semtech LR2021 chip with a Texas Instruments CC1314 RF MCU.[Hacker News]
- The device's firmware and schematics are released under the GPL v3 open-source license.[Hacker News]
- Single units of the standard variant cost $48, while an NDAA-compliant version costs $75.[Hacker News]
What remains uncertain
- Pants for Birds aims to reach price parity between its standard and NDAA-compliant variants by December 2026 through expanded U.S. manufacturing capacity.[Hacker News]
- The company is exploring ways to add multilateration (MLAT) support to the firmware, though it is not provided out of the box due to hardware limitations in high-throughput configuration.[Hacker News]