ADS-B Mode-S

My tracking of nearby ADSB-out aircraft using my local AWACS server.

1090-at-work

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast - Mode-S

On January 1, 2020, Federal Regulation 14 CFR § 91.225 requiring ADSB-out to transmit their position information to ATC and other aircraft takes effect. This applies to all aircraft above 10,000 MSL, inside Class A, B, and C airspace, and within 30 NM of a Mode-C airport to the surface. Since the transmission happens at 1090MHz, is vertically polarized, and is receivable within a line of sight, ground stations can pick up signals from aircraft hundreds of nautical miles away flying at high altitude!

Unscientific deployment observation

Being within the KIAH Mode-C ring, all planes are required to have a squawkable transponder for the primary ATC radar. Unfortunately, most of these planes are invisible without the 1090MHz transponder which allows for a MLAT(multi-lateration) calculation with multiple base stations. Sometimes an ADSB-IN aircraft is flying nearby which will activate a ADSB-R (rebroadcast). The traffic within several miles and within 5000' of the aircraft will be rebroadcast meaning that my AWACS system can now see the ground traffic at major airports as well as random signatures for the remainder of the transponder only flights.

Yesterday's Stats

Yesterday's Flights last 24h range Flight and plane information

Country summary

Total airframes: 1465
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1365 93.17%
Mexico: 49 3.34%
Canada: 18 1.23%
United Kingdom: 6 0.41%
United States Luftwaffe: 4 0.27%
Turkey: 3 0.2%
Luxembourg: 3 0.2%
Panama: 2 0.14%
France: 2 0.14%
Japan: 2 0.14%
United Arab Emirates: 2 0.14%
Taiwan: 2 0.14%
Qatar: 1 0.07%
Unassigned (AFI region): 1 0.07%
Germany: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.07%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.07%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.07%
Austria: 1 0.07%
Netherlands: 1 0.07%
Australia: 1 0.07%
Argentina: 1 0.07%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 578
B737 : 349
B737-MAX : 148
B767 : 32
B787 : 17
B777 : 14
B747 : 7
B757 : 6
B717 : 4
B727 : 1
Airbus : 234
A321 : 62
A320 : 54
A319 : 51
A321-neo : 30
A320-neo : 29
A300 : 4
A350 : 2
A380 : 1
A330 : 1
Embraer : 149
ERJ-175 : 83
E-145XR : 34
Phenom : 18
E-190 : 8
E-145 : 3
E-170 : 2
E-135 : 1
unknown : 141
Cessna : 88
Skyhawk-172 : 20
Citation Encore : 17
Citation Soverign : 14
Citation-525 : 10
Citation Longitude : 9
Skylane-182 : 9
Caravan-208 : 4
Citation Mustang : 2
Citation Bravo : 2
Citation : 1
Bombardier : 55
Challenger : 20
A220 : 17
CRJ200 : 7
CRJ700 : 7
CRJ900 : 3
Global Express : 1
PIC : 36
Skyhawk-172 : 20
Piper Archer : 16
Beechcraft : 32
300 Super King Air : 8
Beechcraft : 6
200 Super King Air : 5
Bonanza : 5
90 King Air : 4
Travel Air : 2
Baron : 1
Beechjet : 1
Piper : 29
Piper Archer : 16
Piper : 9
Piper Malibu : 3
Piper Seminole : 1
LearJet : 21
LearJet 45 : 12
LearJet 60 : 4
LearJet : 2
LearJet 31 : 2
LearJet 35 : 1
Gulfstream : 19
Gulfstream V : 10
Gulfstream IV : 7
Galaxy : 2
helikopter : 15
EC-145 : 4
JetRanger : 3
H500 : 3
AS350 : 2
Bell 4xx : 1
R22 : 1
R44 : 1
Dassault : 14
Falcon2000 : 5
Falcon900 : 5
Falcon : 4
other : 9
MD-8x : 4
Mooney 20 : 2
Hawker : 2
P.68 Observer : 1
Cirrus : 6
SR-22 : 3
Cirrus Vision : 2
SR-22T : 1
military : 6
T-38 Talon : 5
TexanII : 1
cargo : 4
A300 : 4
NASA : 1
WB-57F Canberra : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 2528
Callsign is tail number: 270
Blockheads: 34
PIA: 1
Spionen: 4
Numerical: 2
Unidentified: 24
189 flights got close to the antenna.
N956TX did this the most, 7 times.
N991W flew nearby the longest for 37.1 minutes.
N111TD was closest to the antenna, 1400 ft away.
Busiest plane: N14177 an E45X flew 8 routes for UCA.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 614
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 426
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 171
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 168
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 132
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 114
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 102
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 74
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 41
EJA/1I - NetJets : 25
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 21
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 20
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 17
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 17
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 15
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 15
AAY/G4 - Allegiant Air : 12
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 12
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 11
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 11
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 9
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 9
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 9
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 8
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 7
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 6
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 6
JSX/XE - JSX : 6
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 5
BAW/BA - British Airways : 5
WJA/WS - WestJet : 5
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 4
HAL/HA - Hawaiian Airlines : 4
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 4
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 3
AFR/AF - Air France : 3
GTI/5Y - Atlas Air : 3
UAE/EK - Emirates : 3
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 3
RPA/RW - Republic Airlines : 3
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
AVA/AV - Avianca - Aerovias Nacionales de Colombia : 2
XAA/ - Aeronautical Radio Inc : 2
SCM/ - American Jet International : 2
CLX/CV - Cargolux : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 2
FRG/ - Freight Runners Express : 2
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 2
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 2
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 2
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 2
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 2
NGF/ - Angel Flight America : 1
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 1
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 1
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 1
QFA/QF - Qantas : 1
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
TPA/QT - TAMPA : 1
USC/ - US Check Airlines : 1
YEL/YE - Yellowtail : 1
NCR/N8 - National Air Cargo : 1
JAS/ - Jet Aviation Flight Services : 1
ASP/SP - Aspen Airways : 1
CAP/ - Civil Air Patrol : 1
ACW/ - SERVICIOS AEREOS ACROSS, S.A. DE C.V. : 1
SIS/ - Scott Aviation, LLC : 1
STV/ - Saturn Aviation : 1

You only need a few things to get started:

My long range setup is using a Raspberry Pi Zero and a ProStickPlus. PiZero + ProStickPlus

To improve the setup:

ADSB-in

Since it's more expensive to add ADSB-in capability and not required by the FAA many planes don't have this. Fortunately, using almost the same setup as my home AWACS system Stratux can supplement your electronic flight bag. I'm currently using Avare with the external i/o plugin to connect to the homebuilt stratux.

References and Software

gr-air-modes - ADS-B receiving software.
wikipedia ADS-B
rtl-sdr ads-b article
antirez dump1090
satsignal pi-1090
asd-b.ca
mutability mlat-server
alkissack dump1090
British Airways used this in a pretty neat marketing campaign #lookup.