Lambda58 PicoADSB
Funded on Kickstarter by 144 backers - shipping November

Easy flight tracking, no compromises.

PicoADSB is the world's smallest full-featured ADS-B receiver. Simply plug PicoADSB into power, give it your WiFi information, and you're feeding to your favorite networks with 500km+ range.

PicoADSB will sell for around $99 per unit.

PicoADSB drawn to scale next to a US quarter: 25 by 15 millimeters 25 mm 3 g US quarter 15 mm
Drawn to scale next to a US quarter. Board details simplified.
Overview

PicoADSB is your window to the skies

PicoADSB is the world's smallest full-featured ADS-B receiver, but what does that mean in practice? For a few grams of weight and a little space, you get

  • An Ardupilot/INAV compatible, MAVLink-speaking detect and avoid device for FPV/RC craft
  • A 500km+ range WiFi-included home feeder for networks like airplanes.live or adsb.lol, all in one.
  • Absolutely no Linux setup, failed SD cards, or 11 page setup guides.
  • And it costs less too

PicoADSB was made to bring flight data to everyone. I spent months making your setup take seconds.

Want to use it with PX4, Ardupilot or INAV? PicoADSB detects when it's plugged into a MAVLink port and automatically starts feeding data.

Doing something more interesting? PicoADSB can be extended to speak whatever language you need it to, just get in contact and we'll discuss.

Specifications
Size25mm x 15mm (approximately the size of a coin)
Weight3g
Range500km+, achieved in the real world
Frequency1090MHz
RF front endPurpose built high performance L-band complex quadrature tuner, custom DSP algorithms, a high gain LNA, and an integral SAW filter
ProtocolsBeast, MAVLink, GDL-90, JSON-RPC
AutopilotsPX4, Ardupilot, INAV
ConnectivityWiFi, on-board web UI with map & radar display, OTA software updates
PowerAll you need is a USB port for power.
Comparison

How does it compare?

PicoADSB is sort of difficult to compare to anything else on the market; it's really three devices in one, meeting two very distinct use cases.

FPV/RC

The uAvionix pingRX Pro is a comparable device for FPV/RC use.

SpecPicoADSBuAvionix pingRX Pro
Price$99$399
Range>500kmachieved in the real world278kmclaimed
Size25mm x 15mm, 3gSmall, but still takes up more space than PicoADSB
Air Protocols1090MHz only... for now1090MHz+978MHz

Feeders

The most comparable setup is a Raspberry Pi + Airspy R2 + LNA + SAW filter... plus an antenna, large enclosure, power supply, micro SD card...

SpecPicoADSBPi 5 + Airspy R2 + LNA
Price$99everything you need to get started~$400$110 Pi 5 4GB, $169 Airspy R2, ~$80 everything else
RangeComparableWinning by a smidge
Size25mm x 15mm, 3gRoughly a shoebox
SetupPlug into power, give it your WiFi informationLinux setup, SD card, setup guides
PowerA USB portPower supply
Air Protocols1090MHz1090MHz or 978MHz, not both at onceDual band needs another SDR, LNA, SAW filter, and antenna (~$150)

Checkmarks show which side comes out ahead on each row.

Status
Sep 2, 2026

Production Status

tl;dr We evaluated a way to cut cost and add dual-band, but shelved it. It's good, but not as good as what we have today, and it can't do dual-band yet. So we're building the design I showed you in the video. Before the big batch, we're running a few small ones to de-risk production, which pushes us to November rather than October. Firmware got a lot better in the meantime: signal processing, network layer, a new server-side aggregator, even an iOS app.

Unlike many Kickstarters, we're not starting at "concept". PicoADSB has already undergone several rounds of development and multiple privately-funded, small-scale production rounds. I've been flying PicoADSB on my aircraft for about 2 years now, and there are dozens PicoADSBs deployed all over the United States, in Germany, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, and more worldwide.

Over the next couple weeks, we're running a few smallish batches and experiments to ensure our DfM is on point. Minor tweaks to PCB footprints, better PCB thermal design, a few extra test points to make diagnostics & production easier, those sorts of things. To be transparent: this does push our timeline back by "a few weeks" - November rather than October, perhaps December if we identify big DfM changes to make.

784,487,888

As I'm writing this, a PicoADSB has been online in the field without a crash for 22 days straight (22 days ago was when I last updated it) with 784,487,888 messages processed. Stable as a rock.

~20x

The signal processing improvement prompted a whole series of follow-on effects - turns out ~20xing your message rate will expose all the rough edges elsewhere in your code.

The Web UI

We now have a map & radar display on-board. Maps do only work when connected to your home WiFi or a hotspot - unfortunately, map tiles are big and PicoADSB is, well, not big. For the field, you can use the Radar display which shows your closest tracked planes in a circle around you.

Dark mode

For those of us that live with the blinds firmly shut, I added a dark mode to the web UI. Your retinas will thank me.

adsbd

PicoADSB's own ADSB data aggregator software. adsbd can handle peak traffic volume on the big feeder networks using a VM costing just ~$10/month, with room to spare.

iOS app

It's really nice for slow network connections, includes an AR mode, and a really fancy Apple Watch app too. It's in beta to a few testers today, with a planned release to roughly coincide with PicoADSB's launch.

Read the full update on Kickstarter, or come hang out on the Discord.

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