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: 1559
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1447 92.82%
Mexico: 48 3.08%
Canada: 29 1.86%
United States Luftwaffe: 9 0.58%
Germany: 5 0.32%
United Kingdom: 5 0.32%
Turkey: 3 0.19%
Qatar: 2 0.13%
Netherlands: 2 0.13%
Taiwan: 2 0.13%
Panama: 1 0.06%
Unassigned (AFI region): 1 0.06%
France: 1 0.06%
Bermuda: 1 0.06%
Bermuda: 1 0.06%
Bermuda: 1 0.06%
Ukraine: 1 0.06%
Unassigned (EUR / NAT regions): 1 0.06%
Japan: 1 0.06%
United Arab Emirates: 1 0.06%
New Zealand: 1 0.06%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 577
B737 : 326
B737-MAX : 165
B767 : 39
B787 : 14
B777 : 13
B757 : 13
B717 : 3
B747 : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
B727 : 1
Airbus : 243
A321 : 87
A320 : 56
A319 : 46
A321-neo : 27
A320-neo : 20
A300 : 5
A350 : 1
A380 : 1
Embraer : 150
ERJ-175 : 81
E-145XR : 34
Phenom : 21
E-190 : 7
E-135 : 4
E-145 : 2
E-170 : 1
unknown : 129
Cessna : 120
Citation Encore : 34
Citation Soverign : 22
Skyhawk-172 : 19
Citation-525 : 16
Citation Longitude : 14
Skylane-182 : 7
Caravan-208 : 2
Citation Bravo : 2
Citation : 1
Cardinal-177 : 1
Citation Mustang : 1
Cessna-150 : 1
Bombardier : 94
Challenger : 47
A220 : 15
CRJ700 : 11
CRJ200 : 10
CRJ900 : 6
Global Express : 5
Gulfstream : 43
Gulfstream IV : 18
Gulfstream V : 17
Gulfstream VI : 4
Galaxy : 3
Gulfstream III : 1
Beechcraft : 31
200 Super King Air : 8
Bonanza : 8
300 Super King Air : 7
Beechjet : 3
90 King Air : 3
Travel Air : 1
Beechcraft : 1
PIC : 27
Skyhawk-172 : 19
Piper Archer : 7
Piper Arrow : 1
other : 21
Hawker : 9
Mooney 20 : 5
MD-8x : 2
HondaJet : 2
deHavillandCanada : 2
DC-9 : 1
Dassault : 19
Falcon900 : 7
Falcon : 7
Falcon2000 : 5
LearJet : 18
LearJet 45 : 8
LearJet 60 : 5
LearJet : 2
LearJet 31 : 2
LearJet 35 : 1
Piper : 18
Piper Archer : 7
Piper Malibu : 6
Piper : 3
Piper Arrow : 1
Piper Seminole : 1
helikopter : 13
EC-145 : 5
JetRanger : 2
H500 : 2
AS350 : 1
R44 : 1
R22 : 1
Bell 4xx : 1
cargo : 9
A300 : 5
C-17 Globemaster : 1
Ан-12 Cub : 1
MD-11 : 1
C-130J Hercules : 1
military : 8
TexanII : 4
T-38 Talon : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
C-130J Hercules : 1
Cirrus : 8
SR-22 : 4
SR-22T : 2
Cirrus Vision : 1
SR-20 : 1
Soviet : 1
Ан-12 Cub : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 2486
Callsign is tail number: 320
Blockheads: 77
PIA: 0
Spionen: 5
Numerical: 1
Unidentified: 32
0 flights got close to the antenna.
None did this the most, 0 times.
None flew nearby the longest for 0.0 minutes.
None was closest to the antenna, 99999 ft away.
Busiest plane: N86344 an E75L flew 7 routes for ASH.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 536
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 384
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 184
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 166
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 115
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 114
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 98
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 61
EJA/1I - NetJets : 45
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 25
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 25
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 23
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 22
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 22
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 20
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 19
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 18
WJA/WS - WestJet : 16
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 14
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 12
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 11
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 11
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 9
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 7
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 6
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 6
JSX/XE - JSX : 6
BAW/BA - British Airways : 5
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 4
HAL/HA - Hawaiian Airlines : 4
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 4
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 4
FFL/ - ForeFlight : 4
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 3
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 3
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 3
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 3
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 3
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 3
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
ANZ/NZ - Air New Zealand : 2
CYO/ - Air Transport : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
UAE/EK - Emirates : 2
VTS/ - Everts Air Alaska/Everts Air Cargo : 2
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 2
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 2
OAE/OY - Omni Air International : 2
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 2
SWG/WG - Sunwing Airlines : 2
RDK/ - Memorial Hermann Hospital System : 2
AAY/G4 - Allegiant Air : 1
AFR/AF - Air France : 1
AJI/ - Ameristar Jet Charter : 1
AMF/A8 - Ameriflight : 1
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 1
JZA/QK - Air Canada Jazz : 1
SCM/ - American Jet International : 1
TSC/TS - Air Transat : 1
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 1
EMD/ - Eaglemed (Ballard Aviation) : 1
FLC/ - FINFO Flight Inspection Aircraft : 1
GEC/LH - Lufthansa Cargo : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
RAX/ - Royal Air Freight : 1
JUS/U7 - USA Jet Airlines : 1
TYS/YO - TransHolding System : 1
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 1
BOX/3S - Aerologic : 1
KAY/ - K5 Aviation GmbH : 1
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 1
FTH/ - Mountain Aviation : 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.