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: 1817
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1675 92.18%
Mexico: 58 3.19%
Canada: 35 1.93%
United States Luftwaffe: 16 0.88%
Panama: 3 0.17%
France: 3 0.17%
Germany: 3 0.17%
United Kingdom: 3 0.17%
Turkey: 3 0.17%
United Arab Emirates: 3 0.17%
Spain: 2 0.11%
Netherlands: 2 0.11%
Taiwan: 2 0.11%
New Zealand: 2 0.11%
Qatar: 1 0.06%
Guatemala: 1 0.06%
Hungary: 1 0.06%
Luxembourg: 1 0.06%
Azerbaijan: 1 0.06%
Unassigned (MID region): 1 0.06%
Australia: 1 0.06%
Japan: 1 0.06%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 576
B737 : 325
B737-MAX : 164
B767 : 32
B777 : 20
B787 : 17
B757 : 11
B747 : 5
C-17 Globemaster : 1
B717 : 1
unknown : 258
Airbus : 240
A321 : 70
A320 : 62
A319 : 47
A321-neo : 31
A320-neo : 16
A350 : 6
A300 : 5
A330 : 2
A380 : 1
Cessna : 155
Skyhawk-172 : 38
Citation Encore : 29
Citation-525 : 24
Citation Soverign : 24
Skylane-182 : 18
Citation Longitude : 16
Citation Bravo : 2
Citation : 1
Caravan-208 : 1
Cessna-152 : 1
Stationair-206 : 1
Embraer : 149
ERJ-175 : 84
E-145XR : 35
Phenom : 20
E-190 : 7
E-135 : 2
E-145 : 1
Bombardier : 80
Challenger : 38
A220 : 16
CRJ200 : 11
CRJ900 : 6
Global Express : 5
CRJ700 : 4
PIC : 64
Skyhawk-172 : 38
Piper Archer : 22
Piper Arrow : 2
Citabria : 1
Cessna-152 : 1
Gulfstream : 40
Gulfstream IV : 16
Gulfstream V : 13
Galaxy : 7
Gulfstream VI : 3
Gulfstream III : 1
Beechcraft : 39
200 Super King Air : 11
Beechcraft : 7
Bonanza : 6
90 King Air : 5
300 Super King Air : 4
Beechjet : 3
Baron : 2
Travel Air : 1
other : 39
Hawker : 14
MD-8x : 8
Mooney 20 : 7
HondaJet : 5
DC-9 : 3
deHavillandCanada : 2
Piper : 34
Piper Archer : 22
Piper Malibu : 5
Piper : 3
Piper Arrow : 2
Piper Seminole : 2
LearJet : 25
LearJet 45 : 14
LearJet 60 : 7
LearJet : 2
LearJet 35 : 2
Dassault : 22
Falcon : 13
Falcon2000 : 8
Falcon900 : 1
helikopter : 17
H500 : 5
EC-145 : 4
R22 : 2
R66 : 2
JetRanger : 1
EC-135 : 1
R44 : 1
AS350 : 1
Cirrus : 13
Cirrus Vision : 8
SR-22T : 3
SR-22 : 2
military : 10
T-38 Talon : 6
TexanII : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
C-130 Hercules : 1
cargo : 7
A300 : 5
C-17 Globemaster : 1
C-130 Hercules : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 2762
Callsign is tail number: 468
Blockheads: 62
PIA: 1
Spionen: 5
Numerical: 2
Unidentified: 36
211 flights got close to the antenna.
N5279F did this the most, 7 times.
N5279F flew nearby the longest for 20.2 minutes.
N145CL was closest to the antenna, 2207 ft away.
Busiest plane: N11193 an E45X flew 6 routes for UCA.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 594
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 387
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 172
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 163
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 123
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 117
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 92
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 60
EJA/1I - NetJets : 51
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 32
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 26
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 20
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 20
WJA/WS - WestJet : 18
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 17
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 16
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 15
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 14
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 14
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 12
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 10
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 9
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 9
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 9
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 8
GTI/5Y - Atlas Air : 8
RPA/RW - Republic Airlines : 8
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 7
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 6
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 6
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 6
JSX/XE - JSX : 6
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 5
AAY/G4 - Allegiant Air : 4
AFR/AF - Air France : 4
BAW/BA - British Airways : 4
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 4
UAE/EK - Emirates : 4
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 4
JUS/U7 - USA Jet Airlines : 4
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 4
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 4
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 3
ANZ/NZ - Air New Zealand : 3
SCM/ - American Jet International : 3
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 3
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 3
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 3
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 3
AJT/M6 - Amerijet International : 2
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
AVA/AV - Avianca - Aerovias Nacionales de Colombia : 2
CYO/ - Air Transport : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
IBE/IB - Iberia Airlines : 2
KFS/ - Kalitta Charters : 2
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 2
PAT/ - Department of the Army, Priority Air Transport : 2
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 2
RAX/ - Royal Air Freight : 2
AJI/ - Ameristar Jet Charter : 1
AMF/A8 - Ameriflight : 1
TSC/TS - Air Transat : 1
BYA/ - Berry Aviation : 1
CLX/CV - Cargolux : 1
VTS/ - Everts Air Alaska/Everts Air Cargo : 1
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 1
FRG/ - Freight Runners Express : 1
GEC/LH - Lufthansa Cargo : 1
QFA/QF - Qantas : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
USC/ - US Check Airlines : 1
YEL/YE - Yellowtail : 1
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 1
NCR/N8 - National Air Cargo : 1
ROU/RV - Air Canada Rouge : 1
SBE/ - World Class Aviation : 1
FFL/ - ForeFlight : 1
CAP/ - Civil Air Patrol : 1
ACW/ - SERVICIOS AEREOS ACROSS, S.A. DE C.V. : 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.