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: 1870
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1735 92.78%
Mexico: 60 3.21%
Canada: 20 1.07%
United States Luftwaffe: 18 0.96%
United Kingdom: 6 0.32%
Germany: 5 0.27%
France: 3 0.16%
Turkey: 3 0.16%
Panama: 2 0.11%
Netherlands: 2 0.11%
Ireland: 2 0.11%
Luxembourg: 2 0.11%
Taiwan: 2 0.11%
New Zealand: 2 0.11%
Brazil: 2 0.11%
Qatar: 1 0.05%
Guatemala: 1 0.05%
Spain: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Malta: 1 0.05%
Japan: 1 0.05%
United Arab Emirates: 1 0.05%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 647
B737 : 372
B737-MAX : 170
B767 : 38
B787 : 28
B777 : 14
B757 : 13
B747 : 6
B717 : 5
B727 : 1
Airbus : 262
A321 : 78
A320 : 61
A319 : 60
A320-neo : 30
A321-neo : 23
A300 : 5
A350 : 4
A380 : 1
unknown : 189
Cessna : 160
Skyhawk-172 : 45
Citation Encore : 29
Citation Soverign : 23
Citation-525 : 20
Skylane-182 : 13
Citation Longitude : 12
Caravan-208 : 5
Citation Bravo : 3
Cessna-150 : 2
Chancellor-414 : 2
Cardinal-177 : 2
Centurion-210 : 1
Citation Mustang : 1
Cutlass-172RG : 1
Stationair-206 : 1
Embraer : 153
ERJ-175 : 89
E-145XR : 35
E-190 : 12
Phenom : 12
E-135 : 2
E-145 : 2
E-170 : 1
PIC : 92
Skyhawk-172 : 45
Piper Archer : 40
Piper Arrow : 4
Citabria : 1
8KCAB : 1
Cutlass-172RG : 1
Bombardier : 69
Challenger : 24
A220 : 15
CRJ200 : 9
CRJ900 : 8
CRJ700 : 8
Global Express : 5
Piper : 65
Piper Archer : 40
Piper : 10
Piper Malibu : 6
Piper Seminole : 5
Piper Arrow : 4
Beechcraft : 64
Bonanza : 15
200 Super King Air : 14
300 Super King Air : 13
90 King Air : 7
Baron : 6
Beechcraft : 5
Beechjet : 2
Travel Air : 2
Gulfstream : 34
Gulfstream V : 17
Gulfstream IV : 11
Gulfstream VI : 3
Galaxy : 3
other : 25
Hawker : 14
Mooney 20 : 4
MD-8x : 3
HondaJet : 3
deHavillandCanada : 1
Dassault : 25
Falcon : 9
Falcon900 : 8
Falcon2000 : 8
helikopter : 22
R44 : 4
JetRanger : 4
AS350 : 3
EC-145 : 3
R22 : 2
H500 : 2
EC-135 : 1
S-92 : 1
Blackhawk : 1
Chinook : 1
LearJet : 16
LearJet 45 : 7
LearJet 60 : 5
LearJet 35 : 3
LearJet : 1
Cirrus : 16
SR-22 : 7
SR-22T : 5
Cirrus Vision : 3
SR-20 : 1
military : 10
T-38 Talon : 5
TexanII : 3
Blackhawk : 1
Chinook : 1
cargo : 7
A300 : 5
MD-11 : 2

Airline flight summary

Total : 3057
Callsign is tail number: 485
Blockheads: 70
PIA: 0
Spionen: 8
Numerical: 0
Unidentified: 46
166 flights got close to the antenna.
N5284F did this the most, 7 times.
N5284F flew nearby the longest for 17.6 minutes.
N25PK was closest to the antenna, 4462 ft away.
Busiest plane: N134SY an E75L flew 8 routes for SKW.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 645
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 466
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 193
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 185
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 139
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 133
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 129
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 77
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 43
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 41
EJA/1I - NetJets : 35
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 27
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 26
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 25
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 21
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 18
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 17
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 14
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 13
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 12
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 12
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 11
AAY/G4 - Allegiant Air : 10
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 10
WJA/WS - WestJet : 9
BAW/BA - British Airways : 7
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 7
BVN/ - Baron Aviation Services : 6
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 5
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 5
JSX/XE - JSX : 5
AFR/AF - Air France : 4
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 4
HAL/HA - Hawaiian Airlines : 4
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 4
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 4
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 4
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 3
ANZ/NZ - Air New Zealand : 3
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 3
CLX/CV - Cargolux : 3
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 3
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 3
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 3
YEL/YE - Yellowtail : 3
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 3
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 3
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 2
CYO/ - Air Transport : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
UAE/EK - Emirates : 2
EAL/EA - European Air Express : 2
HER/UD - Hex'Air : 2
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 2
RAX/ - Royal Air Freight : 2
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 2
NCR/N8 - National Air Cargo : 2
AMF/A8 - Ameriflight : 1
ARF/GV - Aero Flight : 1
NGF/ - Angel Flight America : 1
GTI/5Y - Atlas Air : 1
SCM/ - American Jet International : 1
BYA/ - Berry Aviation : 1
EMD/ - Eaglemed (Ballard Aviation) : 1
IBE/IB - Iberia Airlines : 1
KFS/ - Kalitta Charters : 1
GEC/LH - Lufthansa Cargo : 1
OAE/OY - Omni Air International : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
RPA/RW - Republic Airlines : 1
JUS/U7 - USA Jet Airlines : 1
JAS/ - Jet Aviation Flight Services : 1
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 1
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 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.