The operator dashboard

The dashboard is the screen you see after you sign in. This chapter explains each part of it.

Layout

On a phone, the sidebar and side panel are hidden. Tap ☰ (top left) to open the navigation menu, and ⓘ (top right) to open the details panel.

Sidebar buttons

The top group switches the main view:

The next group opens a panel on the right:

To return to the target card from another panel, select Back to target ×.

Sensor lamps

Below the panel buttons, three lamps show whether each sensor is producing data:

Green means producing. Red means something is using the sensor but no data is arriving, which is a real fault. Gray means nothing is using the sensor right now, so its state is unknown. Hover over a lamp for details. The lamps show state only. You cannot click them.

At the bottom of the sidebar, ALERTS shows how many current targets are anomalous.

Video panes and sources

The center shows the live camera picture.

• Two lenses. On a rig with a wide and a telephoto lens, the main picture fills the view and the other lens appears as a small picture in the corner. Select the small picture to swap them. Select ⊞ Split to show them side by side, and ⊡ PiP to go back.
• Other sources. Select ⟲ Source to open the Select source list. Pick a source to show it. A green dot means the source is online, and ACTIVE marks the source the rig is running detection on. Select the star (☆) next to a source to make it your default camera.
• All sources. Select ▦ Grid to see every source as a tile. Click a tile to show it full size. Activate on a tile makes the rig run detection on that source. Select ◱ Single to leave the grid.
• Back to the default. When another source fills the view, select ✕ Clear source.

Status text on the video:

If no sources are listed, an administrator must add one. See Cameras and sources.

Live and paused

The GO LIVE switch in the top bar controls the picture. When it is on, the badge next to it reads LIVE. Turn it off, select the pause button (❚❚), or press Space to freeze the picture. Each video pane then shows ❚❚ paused. Press Space again, or select ►, to resume.

Detection history bar

Above the event log, the History ⓘ bar covers the last 30 min. Amber bars show how many camera detections there were. Red marks show anomalies.

• Click or drag on the bar to replay that moment on the video overlay.
• Press the left and right arrow keys to step 5 seconds. Hold Shift to step 1 minute.
• Select Resume live to return to now.

Select History ⓘ for a short reminder of these controls.

Bounding boxes and labels

When the AI detects an object, it draws corner brackets around it.

• The label above the box shows the class and confidence, for example DRONE · 72%.
• The badge inside the top-left corner shows the target ID.
• Amber boxes are tracked targets. Red boxes are anomalous targets. The target you selected turns cyan.
• A box fades out when the target has not been updated for a few seconds.

Boxes appear only on the source the rig is running detection on. On a two-lens rig, they appear on the wide lens.

Aircraft markers on the video

When the rig knows where the camera is pointing, it also draws a dashed circle where each ADS-B aircraft should appear in the picture, with its callsign. The color shows where the position came from: green for the rig’s own radio, blue for an internet source, and cyan for a remote radio device. Use these markers to match a box to an aircraft.

RF · 1090 MHz card

When the rig hears aircraft on 1090 MHz, a small RF · 1090 MHz card lists the strongest signals with their message rate. Click the card’s title to fold or unfold it, or drag it to move it. Select a flight in the list to open it on FlightAware in a new tab.

Selecting a target

Click a bounding box to select that target. Its card opens in the side panel. Click empty space to clear the selection. You can also select a target by clicking its row in the event log or its dot on the map.

When a motorized mount is connected, clicking a spot on the video also points the camera at that spot.

Drawing a box around something

Drag a rectangle around anything on the live picture and the rig follows it, whatever it is: a learned tracker locks onto what you outlined, so it works on objects the detector has no class for. The box is drawn in cyan with FOLLOWING and the tracker’s confidence. A motorized mount steers to keep it centered, and a recording starts and stops with it, just as with a detected target. Its card in the side panel is headed OUTLINED BY THE OPERATOR.

If the object leaves the picture or is hidden, the box turns dashed and reads SEARCHING while the rig looks for it around the last place it was seen, then over the whole picture, for up to a minute, with the mount holding still. When the object is found again the box snaps back onto it. After a minute without finding it the box goes away.

Click inside the box to stop following. Drawing a new box replaces the old one. Clicking a spot to point the camera there, or pointing the mount at a flight, also clears the box: while a box is drawn the mount steers to it alone, so the two would otherwise fight. While the rig searches for a lost object the mount holds still. A short click never draws a box, and a drag never points the camera. A box must be at least a few percent of the picture on each side, and it applies to the camera the detector is watching: on another pane the rig refuses it and says which camera to draw on. Administrators can switch the feature off in Admin → System (cv/manual_track_enabled). The same gesture works on the handheld’s feed and on a paired phone’s RIG view.

The target card

The target card is split into sections. Each section has a colored left edge, so you can tell at a glance where the information came from.

Header

The header shows the target ID and its status (TRACKING, VERIFIED, CONFIRMED, ANOMALOUS, or IDLE). A green ✓ Corroborated tag appears when an ADS-B aircraft matches the target. Hover over the tag to see the aircraft’s ICAO code, callsign, distance, and time difference.

What the cameras and AI think (amber)

This section is the model’s own output. Treat it as a guess.

The subtitle shows where the guess came from:

• (LOCAL VISION MODEL): the on-device AI looked at the picture and named the object.
• (MOTION TRIPWIRE): the rig noticed something moving, but no model named it. The class is usually UNKNOWN.

What the evidence says (green)

This section shows independent evidence. It is not the AI’s opinion.

The subtitle shows the evidence source. (ADS-B DATA) is followed by LOCAL SDR (the rig’s own radio), API FALLBACK (an internet flight-data service), or NO SOURCE. If a known satellite explains the track, the subtitle reads (SATELLITE CATALOG).

IDENTITY

The IDENTITY row names exactly what the target is, such as an aircraft type or a drone model, followed by the source in parentheses. Short evidence notes may appear beneath it.

This row appears only when the evidence is strong. The rule is never to guess: if the evidence is weak, the row is left out.

Your administrator controls species matching. See Identity and species.

Flight data

Below the identity, the STATUS row shows the ADS-B lookup:

Anomaly (red)

This section appears only when the rig has escalated the target to alert level 3. It explains why the target is flagged:

• SCORE: how strongly the target matches known anomaly signatures.
• SIGNATURE: the closest known signature, if any.
• A short reasoning sentence.

For more detail, open the ⚠ Anomaly analysis panel. It shows the reasoning, the category, and the closest matches. Select Escalate there to escalate a target yourself.

Seen before (blue)

Seen before lists past detections that look like this target, with how long ago each was seen and how similar it looks. When a past detection was linked to a flight or drone, the row reads Looks like followed by that name.

This is visual similarity only. The section header says Looks similar · not an ID. Only close matches from the last 30 days are listed.

The section is hidden on rigs where this feature is not available.

Alert levels

The narrow bar at the bottom left of the screen shows the highest alert level among current targets. The rotated label reads ALERT · n.

To get notified about alerts by email or other channels, your administrator sets up alert rules. See Alerts.

Event log

The event log at the bottom of the screen lists targets, newest first, one row per target. When you open the page, it shows the last 24 hours from the rig. After that, new targets appear live.

• Click a row to select the target and open its card. Anomalous rows have a red background.
• For a confirmed target, Review log opens Reporting with the recordings for that target. For other targets, the column shows Correlate or Analyze anomaly to describe what the card shows when you select the row.
• Select ▴ to make the log taller, and ▾ to shrink it.
• When you scroll down, new rows do not pull you back to the top. Select ↑ Jump to latest to return.

Telescope and camera controls

When a motorized telescope is connected and its picture is on screen, controls appear at the bottom right of the video. They are hidden in the grid and when another source fills the view.

Moving the mount

• Hold the arrow buttons, or the W, A, S, D keys or arrow keys, to move the mount. It stops when you let go.
• On a phone or tablet the arrow buttons become a joystick: put your finger on it and pull in the direction you want the mount to turn. The further you pull, the faster it moves. Let go and it stops. The ⌂ button next to it sends the mount home.
• DEPLOY and STOW raise and fold the telescope.
• LOCK POS saves the current position. It changes to LOCK ● while a position is locked. Select it again to clear the lock.
• REHOME resets the mount’s position reference. Use it only if DroneTracker support asks you to.
• AZ and PITCH show the mount position. ■ HOLD means still, ● SLEWING means moving, and ⚠ NO MOTION means the mount was told to move but did not.

If a game controller is connected, a 🕹 PAD link appears. Select it to see what each button does.

Digital zoom

Use + and − to zoom the picture from 1× to 10×. The current zoom shows below the buttons. This zoom enlarges the picture in your browser only. Select AUTO to zoom in automatically on a tracked target.

Camera settings

If a command fails, a short ERR: message appears for a few seconds.

On a phone

On a phone, or a tablet or phone turned sideways, the controls are arranged to fit a small screen:

• The system status, Grid, Source and Split buttons, and the mount position are grouped at the top left.
• DEPLOY, STOW, LOCK POS and REHOME are in the Mount menu next to the joystick.
• AUTO TRK stays at the bottom right. Focus, exposure and gain are in the Cam menu below it.
• The small second picture sits just above the camera controls. Tap it to swap the two pictures.

Keyboard shortcuts

The Help window (? in the top bar) also shows how to get support. Administrators see a Support access → button. Other users are asked to contact their administrator.