Make an AIS listening station using RTL-SDR (RTL2832U) on Ubuntu 18.04

setup-ais.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Get CubicSDR
sudo apt install librtlsdr0 cubicsdr

# Need to calibrate the ppm (part per million) value.  Getting an accurate calibration is critical.  Find a frequency that works.  For me 785.5 MHz seems to do well, there is a dip in noise just at that frequency, with an occasional spike.


# I use the follow website to find exact frequencies of cell signals.
# https://gis.geek.nz/celltowers


# Build LTE Cell Scanner, this will help with calibration
sudo apt  install cmake libitpp-dev libblas-dev liblapack-dev libfftw3-dev librtlsdr-dev libncurses5-dev libboost-dev libboost-thread-dev libboost-system-dev 

git clone https://github.com/JiaoXianjun/LTE-Cell-Scanner

cd LTE-Cell-Scanner
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
sudo make install

# This will create two new commands: 
#   - CellSearch
#   - LTE-Tracker

# Now run CellSearch to find a cell tower near you, the follow frequency works for me,
# but other locations will need other frequencies.
CellSearch --freq-start 785500000

# Once you have the frequency, you can fine tune it using CubicSDR

#
# AIS Decoding
#

# The AIS signals are centered around 162.0 MHz, one being at 161.075 MHz and the
# other at 162.0.25 MHz.
# 
# You can see these coming in at these frequencies using CubicSDR.
#
# The raw signal can be deciphered using `AISdeco2`. Available here: http://xdeco.org/?page_id=30#ai2
# Once downloaded and installed you can run:

./aisdeco2 --freq-correction 45 --agc

# This will output a line like: 2019-08-23 13:54:26.228  INFO     !AIVDM,1,1,,B,17`BCQ0P00<P3qkbrhkR:gvl08?H,0*4F
# The "!AIVDM,1,1,,B,17`BCQ0P00<P3qkbrhkR:gvl08?H,0*4F" string is the AIS code and can be decoded using gpsdecode

# Install 
sudo apt install gpsd-clients

# Run
echo '!AIVDM,1,1,,B,17`BCQ0P00<P3qkbrhkR:gvl08?H,0*4F' | gpsdecode