Step 1
Flash the image
Write Air OS to a fresh SD card or CM4/CM5 eMMC.
Lightweight Raspberry Pi module that turns Starlink into a reliable HD video and telemetry downlink for drones — stream 1080p and MAVLink data over satellite from anywhere.
Built for the battlefield, tested in the field
SRT protocol with local encoder backoff and forward error correction tuned for satellite uplink. Streams H.264 reliably over Starlink's variable bandwidth.
Forward telemetry from ArduPilot/PX4 over Starlink to any GCS, cloud, or analytics endpoint. Serial and TCP input with CRC validation and multi-destination routing.
Track your UAV in real-time on an interactive map with GPS trail, flight mode, altitude, speed, and satellite count — accessible from anywhere via Starlink.
RPi Camera Module and thermal imagers (V4L2). Crash-safe MKV recording on-board with simultaneous live stream over satellite — never lose footage.
Built-in Tailscale + ZeroTier create a secure mesh between the UAV, Starlink, and your command post. WiFi management UI scans + connects from the browser — no SSH needed. Access the dashboard from any device, anywhere on the planet.
Runs on a 45g Raspberry Pi. Plug a USB stick labelled AIRREC and recordings auto-flow to it — SD card stays clean. Direct laptop-to-Pi cable works without a router. Configure everything through the web dashboard over Starlink or local Ethernet.
Live SD/eMMC wear visibility (JEDEC wear buckets), PSU under-voltage detection, per-stage pipeline FPS chip, and audit-logged guidance state transitions. Fails forward: alert pill warns months before the SD card dies in the field.
Optional Pi 5 + Hailo-8 variant runs YOLOv8 on-device at 30 fps. Operators tap a target in the live video; the Air ground station locks on and autonomously guides an ArduPlane airframe onto it. Compile-time + license gate keep public builds log-only. Read more →
Direct Ethernet first: the reliable setup path before WiFi, ZeroTier, or license activation
Flash air-os-latest-strike.img.xz to an SD card with Raspberry Pi Imager. One image works on Pi 4, Pi 5, CM4, and CM5.
Watch the SD card + CM4/CM5 eMMC flashing tutorial. Watch the physical hookup walkthrough. Watch Windows adapter, ZeroTier, and license setup. Watch the AirOS first setup walkthrough.
For first setup, plug Ethernet directly between laptop and Pi. On Windows, set the Ethernet adapter to manual IPv4 192.168.144.10, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway/DNS blank. Power on, wait 60-120 seconds, then open http://192.168.144.1/. air.local is optional and only works on router/LAN setups with mDNS/Bonjour.
Open the web UI (admin/admin, force-rotate on first login). Configure WiFi, ZeroTier, System, Backup, and other setup pages before activation if needed. Paste your license key only after the Pi has internet; the license gates video transmission and telemetry forwarding, not basic setup.
Live H.264 / H.265 video over WebRTC preview, RTP/UDP, or SRT. MAVLink telemetry forwarded to any GCS. Real-time map. Strike variant adds AI tracking + autonomous terminal guidance.
Write Air OS to a fresh SD card or CM4/CM5 eMMC.
Insert storage, connect Ethernet/LAN, and bring up Raspberry Pi, CM4, or CM5 hardware.
Set the Windows Ethernet adapter, connect to your custom ZeroTier network, and activate the license once the Pi is online.
Reach the web UI through direct Ethernet, log in, get the Pi online, and activate after internet is available.
Software is free to try. A license is only required to run production missions; hardware kits bundle it at no extra cost.
Standard variant only. Perpetual license keyed to one Raspberry Pi hardware ID. Use with your own Pi + camera + Starlink hardware.
Modified Starlink Mini + Raspberry Pi + camera + cables. Fully assembled, flashed, and ready to fly. OS license included at no extra cost.
AI object tracking + autonomous terminal guidance. Hailo-8 HAT on Pi 5 unlocks the full AI tracker; the same image runs the operator-tap targeting path on Pi 4 / Pi 5 without HAT (no AI, manual selection only). End-user verification required before enable.
UAH prices shown at 43.5 UAH / USD — USD is canonical. The Air OS software itself is free to download and try — flash it on any Raspberry Pi. A license is only required to run video and telemetry transmission on production hardware.
Get Air for Raspberry Pi, Intel N100 mini PCs, or the viewer app for your laptop
Unified Pi 4 / Pi 5 / CM4 / CM5 image. Flash it, connect Ethernet, then open 192.168.144.1.
~1.05 GB. First SSH login: air:air; change the password after setup.
Strike enables Hailo-8 AI tracking on Pi 5 / CM5. The same image runs tap-only mode without Hailo.
⚠ First-boot SSH credential is air:air.
Change the password with passwd after first login.
Do not expose :22 to the public internet before changing it.
GitHub release hosting is primary. Use the direct VPS mirror if GitHub is blocked.
Paste the following into a terminal after the download completes. The hash below is fetched live from the mirror on expand; if a newer image has been published since, this is the current one.
curl -sS https://air.airdroper.org/downloads/air-os-latest-strike.img.xz.sha256 | sha256sum -c -loading…
Need help flashing? Watch the SD card + CM4/CM5 eMMC tutorial. Hardware hookup: LAN and CM4/CM5 bring-up. Network and activation: Windows adapter, ZeroTier, and license. First setup: AirOS walkthrough.
Camera + telemetry only, no strike subsystem: Download Standard variant (.img.xz, ~713 MB)
For Ubuntu/Debian mini PCs with SSD/NVMe. This is not a flashable image: unpack the package and run the installer on the existing OS.
Download N100 package (.tar.xz)After install, open http://<mini-pc-ip>/. First web login is admin / admin.
Use this for N100/N95/N200-class boxes that already boot Ubuntu/Debian. It uses the separate x86_64 OTA lane and Intel VAAPI video acceleration when available.
curl -sS https://air.airdroper.org/downloads/air-os-n100-latest.tar.xz.sha256 | sha256sum -c -Free standalone video viewer with low-latency decode, recording, and telemetry overlay. Auto-detects H.264 / H.265 from the Pi and falls back between codecs if auth is unreachable, so R1M H.265 passthrough still opens. No API key. ~107 MB.
Download .exe