Vulcan Radar is a purpose-built desktop aircraft tracker built around an ESP32-P4, a 5-inch 800×480 IPS touchscreen and a custom cloud-based aircraft data service.

The idea was to build a dedicated physical display that could sit on my desk and continuously show the aircraft flying around my location, rather than having to keep FlightRadar-style websites or apps open on a phone or computer.

The hardware is based around an Elecrow CrowPanel Advanced 5-inch ESP32-P4 display. The ESP32 runs the user interface, touchscreen handling, networking and the radar-style display, with the UI built specifically for the 800×480 screen.

A physical rotary encoder on the front of the unit controls the displayed radar range, allowing the view to be changed from local traffic to aircraft much further away. The touchscreen is used to select individual aircraft, bringing up additional information about the selected flight. There is also a physical illuminated power control and an internal speaker for audio/UI functions.

It is important to point out that the unit isn't an RF radar receiver itself. Instead, it connects to the internet over Wi-Fi and communicates with an API service I built specifically for the project.

The server side handles the heavier data processing. It retrieves live aircraft information from external ADS-B/aircraft-data sources, processes and filters the data based on the radar's configured location and range, and sends a much smaller dataset to the ESP32. This avoids trying to process a huge global aircraft feed on the embedded hardware.

For each aircraft the system can work with data such as:

  • latitude and longitude
  • altitude
  • ground speed
  • track/heading
  • callsign
  • aircraft registration and type where available
  • origin/destination and flight information where available
  • distance and bearing from the radar location

The device then converts the aircraft's latitude/longitude into bearing and distance relative to the user's position, scales that against the selected nautical-mile range and plots the aircraft onto the circular radar display.

The cloud backend also handles additional data used by the device, including weather information, so the ESP32 can concentrate primarily on presentation and interaction rather than repeatedly performing large external API requests itself.

The enclosure has also been designed specifically for the project rather than using an off-the-shelf development-board case. I've been iterating the enclosure as a 3D-printed assembly, including the display mounting, front fascia, rotary control, speaker, power control and rear connections. A separate folding desktop stand has also been designed for it.

Most of the development has involved getting several quite different parts working together:

ESP32-P4 firmware, touchscreen UI, Wi-Fi communications, cloud API, aircraft-data processing , geographic calculations, physical enclosure and controls.

The interface deliberately takes inspiration from older aviation/radar equipment rather than looking like another modern flight-tracking app. The intention is that it behaves more like a small piece of dedicated avionics equipment sitting on the desk: power it on and the surrounding air traffic is simply there.

The project has now progressed from a prototype into a small production design, including work on the enclosure, PCB/display integration, power supply, packaging and EMC/UKCA/CE compliance.

You can see more photos on Vulcan Radar