Balena MT Station (Beta Release Candidate)

Balena MT Station is a simple AIS broadcaster designed to send AIS data to MarineTraffic. It runs on BalenaOS and is built for devices that receive AIS messages from a serial port.

Features

• Reads AIS messages from a serial port or RTL-SDR USB dongle
• Reads AIS messages from a Network through UDP
• Supports valid NMEA AIS messages (!AIVDM,... format)
• Broadcasts data to MarineTraffic
• Designed to run on a Balena-managed device

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 4 (default)
• Raspberry Pi 3B+
• Raspberry Pi 5
• QEMU (for testing and development)
• An AIS receiver with a serial output
• A RTL-SDR USB dongle + antenna
• A MarineTraffic account and successful application for becoming a contributor
• BalenaCloud account

Setup Instructions

1. Deploy with Balena

Click the button below to deploy this project to BalenaCloud:

a)After clicking the button a modal will appear. Chose the device that you want to use and fill the modal with the StationId and Token received from MarineTraffic's email.

b)This will create a fleet with the name that you gave

c)Visit your newly create fleet and click Add Device

1. Select the appropriate device type (e.g., Raspberry Pi 4).
2. Choose BalenaOS Version (latest recommended version).
3. Select Network Connection (Ethernet or Wi-Fi):
   • If using Wi-Fi, enter your SSID and password.
4. Click Download balenaOS.
5. Flash the downloaded image to an SD card using balenaEtcher.
6. Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and power it on.

d) Alternatively, deploy manually by following the steps below.

2. Setup Balena and Configure the Device

a) Create a Balena Fleet

1. Go to BalenaCloud and sign in or create an account.
2. Click Create fleet and enter a name for your fleet (e.g., balena-mt-station).
3. Select the default device type: Raspberry Pi 4 (or your preferred supported device).
4. Choose Starter or Microservices fleet type.
5. Click Create new fleet.

b) Add a Device to the Fleet

1. Inside your new fleet, click Add device.
2. Select the appropriate device type (e.g., Raspberry Pi 4).
3. Choose BalenaOS Version (latest recommended version).
4. Select Network Connection (Ethernet or Wi-Fi):
   • If using Wi-Fi, enter your SSID and password.
5. Click Download balenaOS.
6. Flash the downloaded image to an SD card using balenaEtcher.
7. Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and power it on.

c) Verify Device Connectivity

1. Wait for the device to appear in your fleet on BalenaCloud.
2. Ensure it shows Online before proceeding.

3. Deploy to the Balena Fleet

1. Clone this repository:

   git https://github.com/Kpler/iot-balena-ais-station.git
   cd iot-balena-ais-station

2. Push the code to Balena:

   balena push <your-balena-fleet>

3. Wait for the deployment to complete.

4. Connect AIS Receiver

• Connect your AIS receiver to the device’s serial port (e.g., /dev/ttyUSB0).
• Ensure the receiver outputs valid NMEA AIS messages.

5. Configure Environment Variables

Serial Input Service Environment Variables

Name	Default Value	Options	Description
SERIAL	/dev/ttyAMA0	-	the serial port used to receive data
BAUD_RATE	38400	-	baud rate of the serial port
IS_HEX_PARSER_ENABLED	false	true, false	if data are hex-formatted then enable this parser
IS_RAW_MODE_ENABLED	true	true, false	enable if you want to send the sentence of the AIS messages otherwise a string represantion of the whole message
SERIAL_OUTPUT_HOST	230.230.230.230	-
SERIAL_OUTPUT_PORT	55501	-
LOG_LEVEL	info	debug
LOG_DESTINATION	stdout	DataDog, NewRelic
LOG_URL	""	-	DataDog or NewRelic URL
LOG_API_KEY	""	-	DataDog or NewRelic API key
LOG_PROJECT	AIS-Station-Project	-	contain the project metadata info for DD tag or NR log information
LOG_HOSTNAME	AIS-Station-Host	-

Network Input Service Environment Variables

Name	Default Value	Options	Description
NETWORK_INPUT_HOST	0.0.0.0	-	The address to host the UDP server
NETWORK_INPUT_PORT	6501	-	The port for to listen the UDP server
NETWORK_OUTPUT_HOST	230.230.230.230	-
NETWORK_OUTPUT_PORT	55501	-
LOG_LEVEL	info	debug
LOG_DESTINATION	stdout	DataDog, NewRelic
LOG_URL	""	-	DataDog or NewRelic URL
LOG_API_KEY	""	-	DataDog or NewRelic API key
LOG_PROJECT	AIS-Station-Project	-	contain the project metadata info for DD tag or NR log information
LOG_HOSTNAME	AIS-Station-Host	-

Broadcast Service Environment Variables

Name	Default Value	Options	Description
BROADCAST_INPUT_TYPE	MULTICAST	UDP_SERVER
BROADCAST_INPUT_ADDRESS	230.230.230.230	-
BROADCAST_INPUT_PORT	55501	-
BROADCAST_OUTPUT_HOST	listener0.marinetraffic.com	-	That's the default URL that the application should send data
BROADCAST_OUTPUT_PORT	5320	-	That's the default Port that the application should send data
BROADCAST_SEND_MODE	tcp	udp
IS_DATA_SENDING_ENABLED	true	true, false
DOWNSAMPLING_RATE	10	-	downsampling messages to reduce bandwith throttling. measured in seconds eg. broadcast messages every 10 seconds
STATION_ID	0	-	add the Station ID received from MarineTraffic's email
LOG_LEVEL	info	debug
TOKEN	null	-	add the authentication Token received from MarineTraffic's email

RTL-SDR Service Environment Variables

Name	Default Value	Options	Description
VERBOSE	false	true	print all received messages
RTL_SDR_OUTPUT_HOST	230.230.230.230		sending data to specified host
RTL_SDR_OUTPUT_PORT	55501		sending data to specified port

6. Start the Service

Once the device is online and receiving AIS data, it will automatically start broadcasting to MarineTraffic.

Roadmap & Contributions

This project is in alpha and subject to changes. Contributions and suggestions are welcome!