You guys, this project is pure eye candy for anyone who's ever sat in an airport watching flight boards — let me tell you, the round display makes it look legit! It's Mateusz Juszczyk's ESP32-Plane-Radar and yes, I know, the joke lands: despite what they named it, there is no actual radar inside. Instead, it pulls ADS-B data to recreate a classic aviation display right on your desk, and because it uses real flight information from adsb.fi, you're watching the same planes flying overhead that anyone else would see. It captures that old-school airport vibe in one tiny device, which is exactly why I can't stop thinking about it after reading the post.
Underneath the slick exterior lives an ESP32-C3 Super Mini doing all the heavy lifting and feeding a GC9A01 circular display — Mateusz even included a web-based configuration interface to give it that professional touch, which makes it feel way more premium than your average microproject. The whole thing sits in a minimalist 3D-printed case that keeps both components tidy, and while the original design is tight already, I keep picturing much wilder builds this could become with custom enclosures. If anyone wants to port this over to an older Supercon badge or try their own display combination, let me know because this hardware foundation is seriously solid.
Here's the real secret that makes it possible: there isn't a single radio on the parts list because the code doesn't actually sniff ADS-B out of the air itself. Instead, the device connects to your local WiFi and pulls crowdsourced data from adsb.fi, which is why this can stay so small without needing an SDR module — something that could be made much clearer earlier in the post! By tapping into existing flight tracking networks rather than building one from scratch, Mateusz created a high-quality display with minimal hardware overhead. It's a brilliant example of how smart software design makes low-cost components look expensive and fun, which is precisely why this project deserves its own spotlight here.
Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/07/08/esp32-keeps-tabs-on-your-local-airspace/
Underneath the slick exterior lives an ESP32-C3 Super Mini doing all the heavy lifting and feeding a GC9A01 circular display — Mateusz even included a web-based configuration interface to give it that professional touch, which makes it feel way more premium than your average microproject. The whole thing sits in a minimalist 3D-printed case that keeps both components tidy, and while the original design is tight already, I keep picturing much wilder builds this could become with custom enclosures. If anyone wants to port this over to an older Supercon badge or try their own display combination, let me know because this hardware foundation is seriously solid.
Here's the real secret that makes it possible: there isn't a single radio on the parts list because the code doesn't actually sniff ADS-B out of the air itself. Instead, the device connects to your local WiFi and pulls crowdsourced data from adsb.fi, which is why this can stay so small without needing an SDR module — something that could be made much clearer earlier in the post! By tapping into existing flight tracking networks rather than building one from scratch, Mateusz created a high-quality display with minimal hardware overhead. It's a brilliant example of how smart software design makes low-cost components look expensive and fun, which is precisely why this project deserves its own spotlight here.
Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/07/08/esp32-keeps-tabs-on-your-local-airspace/