ATAK-Setup

The following section explains how to connect and set up an ATAK device.

ATAK stands for Android Team Awareness Kit. It is a mobile geospatial platform that facilitates real-time collaboration and communication among teams, particularly in military and emergency response scenarios. ATAK provides a map-based interface on Android devices, enabling users to share location data, mark points of interest, and communicate with team members in the field. It is designed to enhance situational awareness and coordination by leveraging geospatial information in a user-friendly mobile application.

Required Hardware

  • Ground Control Station (GCS)

  • Data-Link

  • Ethernet Switch

  • Android device with ATAK installed (Application is available in the Google PlayStore)

Procedure

  1. Connect the Ground radio to the Ethernet switch.

  2. Connect the tablet/phone running ATAK to the Ethernet switch

  3. Connect the Ethernet switch to the GCS

  4. Power the Ethernet switch

AMC Settings

  1. Select -> Settings -> General.

  2. Scroll down to Team Awareness (Smartphone Integration) section.

  3. Turn on Enable Team Awareness and Enable on startup. In Fly View, the Team icon will be highlighted in blue, indicating that ATAK functionality is enabled.

  4. Set Controller Callsign to Mission Control.

  5. Set Destination Address to 172.20.255.255.

  6. Set Destination Port to 4242.

  7. Set Destination Protocol to UDP.

  8. Set Incoming Port to 8089.

  9. Set Incoming Protocol to UDP.

ATAK Settings

  1. Click on the three dots on the top right. A menu will open.

  2. Choose Settings -> Network Connections. Click on Network Connections in the pop-up window.

  3. Go to the Input/Output Management section and click on Manage Inputs.

  4. Edit the default connection (click on the pencil icon) and set the address to 0.0.0.0.

  5. Tick the advanced options.

  • Select Input Protocol to UDP.

  • Set Server Port to 4242.

  • Confirm changes.

  1. The checkbox next to the default entry must be checked.

  2. Go back to Input/Output Management. Click on Manage Outputs.

  3. Click on the three dots in the top right and select Add.

  • Set name to AMC.

  • Set address to the IP address of the GCS.

  1. Tick the advanced options.

  • Select Input Protocol to UDP.

  • Set Server Port to 8089.

  • Confirm changes.

  1. The checkbox next to the AMC entry must be checked.

Video Settings

  1. Click on the video symbol in the top toolbar. Click on the + in the menu.

  2. Change Type to rtsp in the popup window.

  3. Add 172.20.110.10:8553/stream1

  4. Optionally: Stream can be named (e.g. "Vehicle 1")

  5. Click on Add. The stream will appear in the left menu.

Using ATAK with Vehicle

  1. Make sure to go through AMC-Settings, ATAK-Settings and Video-Settings first.

  2. Connect the vehicle to AMC.

  3. In ATAK, click on the three dots in the top right. A menu will appear. Click on Settings and then Network Connections. A popup will appear. Click on Network Connections. Check that the Primary IP Address is in the range 172.20.XX.XX.

If the Primary IP Address is in a different range, disconnect from the WiFi or cellular network.

  1. As soon as the vehicle has GPS lock, the position as well as the sensor point of interest will appear on the map.

If the vehicle is on the ground, the sensor point of interest may not be visible.

  1. Click on the video icon and select the stream previously configured in the ATAK configuration.

Markers

  1. Select the marker icon in the ATAK top toolbar.

  2. A menu with four different markers will appear on the right side.

  3. Select the desired marker and click on the map to place the marker.

  4. Click on send in the bottom right menu. You can either send the marker to a particular device or broadcast it.

  5. The markers will appear on the map in AMC (Fly View only).

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