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: 1912
Unassigned icao range: 1
United States: 1787 93.46%
Mexico: 44 2.3%
Canada: 42 2.2%
United States Luftwaffe: 6 0.31%
United Kingdom: 5 0.26%
Panama: 3 0.16%
Germany: 3 0.16%
United Arab Emirates: 2 0.1%
Taiwan: 2 0.1%
New Zealand: 2 0.1%
Brazil: 2 0.1%
Morocco: 1 0.05%
Qatar: 1 0.05%
Colombia: 1 0.05%
Dominican Republic: 1 0.05%
Unassigned (AFI region): 1 0.05%
France: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Bermuda: 1 0.05%
Netherlands: 1 0.05%
Turkey: 1 0.05%
Luxembourg: 1 0.05%
Malta: 1 0.05%
Azerbaijan: 1 0.05%
Unassigned (MID region): 1 0.05%
Australia: 1 0.05%
Japan: 1 0.05%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 568
B737 : 318
B737-MAX : 162
B767 : 31
B777 : 20
B757 : 16
B787 : 13
B717 : 5
B747 : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
unknown : 306
Airbus : 240
A321 : 73
A320 : 56
A319 : 51
A321-neo : 34
A320-neo : 19
A350 : 3
A300 : 2
A330 : 1
A380 : 1
Embraer : 161
ERJ-175 : 87
E-145XR : 34
Phenom : 26
E-190 : 9
E-135 : 3
E-170 : 2
Cessna : 160
Skyhawk-172 : 45
Skylane-182 : 25
Citation-525 : 23
Citation Soverign : 20
Citation Encore : 20
Citation Longitude : 12
Citation Bravo : 5
Citation Mustang : 4
Caravan-208 : 3
Centurion-210 : 2
Chancellor-414 : 1
Bombardier : 91
Challenger : 49
A220 : 17
CRJ200 : 10
CRJ900 : 9
Global Express : 4
CRJ700 : 2
PIC : 89
Skyhawk-172 : 45
Piper Archer : 36
Piper Arrow : 6
Citabria : 1
8KCAB : 1
Piper : 62
Piper Archer : 36
Piper : 11
Piper Malibu : 7
Piper Arrow : 6
Piper Lance : 1
Piper Seminole : 1
Beechcraft : 57
Bonanza : 17
Beechcraft : 9
300 Super King Air : 8
90 King Air : 6
200 Super King Air : 6
Beechjet : 5
Baron : 4
Travel Air : 2
Gulfstream : 35
Gulfstream V : 15
Gulfstream IV : 13
Gulfstream VI : 4
Galaxy : 3
other : 26
Mooney 20 : 12
Hawker : 9
HondaJet : 3
P.68 Observer : 1
Glider : 1
Dassault : 24
Falcon : 10
Falcon900 : 7
Falcon2000 : 7
LearJet : 20
LearJet 45 : 10
LearJet 60 : 4
LearJet 31 : 2
LearJet 35 : 2
LearJet : 2
Cirrus : 16
SR-22 : 8
SR-22T : 4
Cirrus Vision : 3
SR-20 : 1
helikopter : 13
EC-145 : 3
Bell 4xx : 2
H500 : 2
JetRanger : 2
R22 : 1
R44 : 1
R66 : 1
S-76 : 1
cargo : 3
A300 : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
warbird : 1
T-6 Texan : 1
military : 1
C-17 Globemaster : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 2930
Callsign is tail number: 576
Blockheads: 71
PIA: 1
Spionen: 1
Numerical: 3
Unidentified: 31
302 flights got close to the antenna.
N13HD did this the most, 12 times.
N13HD flew nearby the longest for 42.0 minutes.
SCM25 was closest to the antenna, 2188 ft away.
Busiest plane: N11191 an E45X flew 6 routes for UCA.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 604
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 395
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 196
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 178
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 130
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 127
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 97
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 55
EJA/1I - NetJets : 54
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 43
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 32
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 25
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 24
WJA/WS - WestJet : 22
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 19
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 17
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 16
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 15
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 14
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 13
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 12
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 7
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 6
BAW/BA - British Airways : 6
RPA/RW - Republic Airlines : 6
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 6
JSX/XE - JSX : 6
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 5
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 5
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 5
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 4
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 4
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 4
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 4
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 3
ANZ/NZ - Air New Zealand : 3
SCM/ - American Jet International : 3
UAE/EK - Emirates : 3
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 3
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 3
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 3
CAP/ - Civil Air Patrol : 3
AFR/AF - Air France : 2
AJT/M6 - Amerijet International : 2
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
AVA/AV - Avianca - Aerovias Nacionales de Colombia : 2
XAA/ - Aeronautical Radio Inc : 2
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 2
TSC/TS - Air Transat : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 2
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 2
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 2
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 1
CYO/ - Air Transport : 1
BOE/ - Boeing : 1
CLX/CV - Cargolux : 1
EMD/ - Eaglemed (Ballard Aviation) : 1
EAL/EA - European Air Express : 1
HER/UD - Hex'Air : 1
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 1
KFS/ - Kalitta Charters : 1
GEC/LH - Lufthansa Cargo : 1
POE/PD - Porter Airlines : 1
QFA/QF - Qantas : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
YEL/YE - Yellowtail : 1
ROU/RV - Air Canada Rouge : 1
FWK/ - Flightworks : 1
JAS/ - Jet Aviation Flight Services : 1
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 1
LSO/ - Lone STar Communications : 1
EDG/ - Jet Edge : 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.