A clear view of the sky
As much open sky as possible above about 10–15° elevation: a roof, a pole in the yard or open land. Avoid direct glare from streetlights and security lights.
Host a node
Put a stereo eye on your patch of sky
A node is a small, quiet computer and a sky-facing camera that runs around the clock. Each new node makes new stereo pairs with its neighbours, and the most valuable sites are often where nobody else is watching.
Who makes a good host
You don't need to be an astronomer. You do need a spot like this, and some patience with setup.
Power and home internet
A mains outlet that can stay on 24/7, ideally outdoor-rated and protected by a GFCI/RCD, and a home connection. Wired Ethernet to the node is the most reliable.
The right distance from others
5–40 miles from at least one other node, ideally two or more. Rural and remote sites fill blind spots between towns and are especially valuable.
Permission
Your own property, or consent from your landlord or homeowners' association, and local rules that allow a small outdoor camera. See the FAQ on legality and neighbours.
Some technical comfort
Setup means flashing a microSD card, plugging in a camera ribbon and five GPS wires, and mounting a box outdoors. A phone does the rest; no terminal is needed. The build guide walks through it.
Staying power
Stereo pairs only work while both nodes are online. A node that runs for months is worth far more than one that runs for a week.
What it costs
A complete node built from these parts costs roughly $700–1,000 before tax and shipping. Prices are approximate, in US dollars, as of October 2026, and have been volatile during 2026; check current listings before buying. Examples are illustrations, not endorsements; any equivalent part works. Sources for these prices.
| Part | Example | Approx. price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit (8 GB) | ≈ $399 | List price, raised from $249 in July 2026 and often out of stock. Includes a 19 V power supply. An original Orin Nano developer kit also works and gains Super mode with JetPack 6.2. |
| Camera | Arducam 12.3 MP IMX477 HQ camera for Jetson (B0249), CS mount | ≈ $60–76 | Supports 1920 × 1080 at 60 fps. The developer kit uses 22-pin, 0.5 mm camera cables; this kit includes one. The UAP Finder image sets it up on the CAM0 connector. |
| Lens | ≈ 90° wide-angle M12 lens with CS adapter (e.g. Arducam M23356H09, 3.56 mm) | ≈ $19–25 | Matches the software's default 90° field of view. The node measures its exact focal length and distortion from the stars. |
| GPS with PPS | Adafruit Ultimate GPS Breakout v3, or a u-blox board such as SparkFun NEO-M9N | ≈ $30–71 | Must expose a pulse-per-second (PPS) pin for precise time. USB-only GPS dongles without a PPS wire are not accurate enough. |
| GPS antenna | Active antenna, 28 dB, SMA (e.g. Adafruit 960) plus a u.FL-to-SMA adapter | ≈ $22–30 | Gives a reliable fix from inside an enclosure. |
| Storage Recommended | NVMe M.2 SSD, 256–512 GB | ≈ $60–150 | Clips are written at about 187 MB/s, so NVMe is required; microSD is too slow. SSD prices rose sharply during 2026. |
| ADS-B receiver Recommended | RTL-SDR-type USB receiver (e.g. RTL-SDR Blog V4L) and a 1090 MHz antenna | ≈ $55–75 | Lets the node recognise aircraft from their own broadcasts without depending on an online feed. |
| Orientation sensor Optional | Adafruit BNO055 breakout | ≈ $30 | Notices if the mount has moved. Not precise enough to measure pointing, which comes from the stars. |
| Enclosure | Weatherproof box with a clear acrylic dome, cable glands and an optional dew heater | ≈ $40–100 | Estimate. One all-sky camera parts list prices a 100 mm dome at about €16 and a small heater ring at about €25. Plan for shade and ventilation. |
| Mounting and cabling | Pole or bracket, outdoor-rated power and Ethernet | ≈ $20–60 | Estimate; depends entirely on the site. |
| Typical total, including the recommended ADS-B receiver | ≈ $700–1,000 | Excludes tax, shipping and any tools. | |
Register before you buy. Spacing matters. Tell us roughly where you are and check the coverage map first, so your node will have a stereo partner within 5–40 miles.
Power use (estimate)
The developer kit's highest power mode is capped at 25 W. Continuous 1080p, 60 fps analysis is expected to run in the upper power modes, and the SSD, camera, GPS, ADS-B receiver and any dew heater add a few watts. We therefore budget 15–30 W on average.
That is 0.36–0.72 kWh a day, or roughly 130–260 kWh a year. At the US average residential price of about 18.3¢ per kWh that the US Energy Information Administration forecasts for 2026, it comes to roughly $24–48 a year; your tariff will differ.
Basis: NVIDIA's published power modes for the Orin Nano Super developer kit plus allowances for peripherals.
This has not yet been measured on a complete node. A plug-in power meter, or the board's own
tegrastats readout, will tell you the real figure.
- Average draw
- 15–30 W
- Per year
- 130–260 kWh
- Cost per year at 18.3¢/kWh
- $24–48
Bandwidth use (estimate)
Video is analysed on the node, so day-to-day traffic is small. These estimates are calculated from the message sizes in the wire protocol; they have not yet been measured on a live network.
| Situation | Estimate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Idle, UDP transport | ≈ 5 MB a day (≈ 150 MB a month) | One signed heartbeat of about 550 bytes every 10 seconds. |
| Idle, HTTPS transport | ≈ 50 MB a day (≈ 1.5 GB a month) | Heartbeats plus a check for server commands every 2 seconds, assuming about 1 KB of protocol overhead per request. |
| Tracking an object | ≈ 5 KB/s (≈ 42 kbit/s) while it is in view | Ten telemetry packets of about 520 bytes per second, per object. |
| Clip upload | Roughly 5–25 MB per clip | 10 seconds of 1080p, 60 fps H.264, sent only after a confirmed stereo match. Size depends strongly on sensor noise. |
| Online ADS-B feed | Varies with air traffic | Polled once a second if used. A local ADS-B receiver uses no internet bandwidth at all. |
For most hosts this adds up to a few gigabytes a month or less, well within typical home broadband allowances.
Setup overview
The node is built to be flashed and plugged in. The step-by-step build guide covers every step with pictures and checks, and The node explains how it works. In outline:
-
Register and check spacing
Use the interest form and the coverage map so your node has a partner 5–40 miles away.
-
Flash the system image
Write the UAP Finder image to a microSD card with balenaEtcher. A brand-new developer kit may first need a one-time firmware update from NVIDIA.
-
Plug the parts together
The camera ribbon into CAM0, the GPS module onto five header pins, and the optional SSD, ADS-B receiver and orientation sensor.
-
Mount it outdoors and power on
Point the camera anywhere from 45° up to straight up, connect Ethernet (or use its Wi-Fi hotspot) and power.
-
Claim it from your phone
Open
http://uapfinder.local, enter the claim code from the network coordinator and set a device password. The page shows the camera view, GPS fix and time. -
Let it calibrate itself
On the first clear night the node works out exactly where it points from the stars, then appears on the live map.
The system image, setup page and automatic calibration are new and not yet tested on real hardware.
Where nodes are needed
The coverage layer of the live map divides the region into cells and evaluates the sky above each one, at 3 km altitude by default:
- Stereo: at least two nodes see it with enough parallax to triangulate.
- Mono: only one node sees it, so objects there can be detected but not located.
- Blind: no node sees it.
It also suggests up to ten places where one new, upward-pointing node would turn the most blind or mono cells into stereo coverage. Those are the best places to host.
Placement tips
Point it at the sky, not the neighbours
Aim the camera steeply upward. Use the sky mask for any rooftop, tree or horizon still in frame. Detection ignores masked areas, but a requested clip contains the full camera frame, so the less of the ground it sees, the better.
Keep it rigid
Pointing is the largest source of error. A camera that sags or is knocked sends wrong directions until it is recalibrated, so use a stiff mount and let the orientation sensor, if fitted, warn you of movement.
Mind heat and dew
A sealed box in the sun gets hot, and a clear dome fogs on cool nights. Shade, ventilation and a small dew heater help keep the computer within limits and the view clear.
Be safe outdoors
Use outdoor-rated power with GFCI/RCD protection, keep roof work safe and follow local electrical rules. If in doubt, ask a qualified electrician.