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: 1198
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1112 92.82%
Mexico: 43 3.59%
Canada: 11 0.92%
United States Luftwaffe: 5 0.42%
Germany: 4 0.33%
United Kingdom: 4 0.33%
Luxembourg: 3 0.25%
Qatar: 2 0.17%
France: 2 0.17%
Netherlands: 2 0.17%
Turkey: 2 0.17%
Japan: 2 0.17%
Taiwan: 2 0.17%
Panama: 1 0.08%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.08%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.08%
Cayman Islands: 1 0.08%
Malta: 1 0.08%
Australia: 1 0.08%
United Arab Emirates: 1 0.08%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 480
B737 : 290
B737-MAX : 126
B767 : 21
B777 : 17
B757 : 12
B787 : 10
B747 : 3
B717 : 1
Airbus : 165
A320 : 49
A321 : 44
A319 : 39
A320-neo : 15
A321-neo : 13
A300 : 2
A350 : 1
A330 : 1
A380 : 1
Embraer : 135
ERJ-175 : 86
E-145XR : 33
Phenom : 11
E-190 : 4
E-145 : 1
unknown : 132
Cessna : 80
Citation Encore : 18
Citation Longitude : 14
Citation Soverign : 12
Skyhawk-172 : 11
Citation-525 : 11
Citation Bravo : 5
Skylane-182 : 4
Citation Mustang : 2
Caravan-208 : 2
Chancellor-414 : 1
Bombardier : 53
Challenger : 19
A220 : 15
CRJ200 : 8
CRJ900 : 5
Global Express : 4
CRJ700 : 2
Beechcraft : 24
90 King Air : 5
Beechjet : 5
Bonanza : 4
Beechcraft : 3
300 Super King Air : 3
200 Super King Air : 3
Travel Air : 1
other : 19
Hawker : 9
MD-8x : 8
DC-9 : 2
PIC : 16
Skyhawk-172 : 11
Piper Archer : 5
Dassault : 13
Falcon : 8
Falcon2000 : 3
Falcon900 : 2
Gulfstream : 11
Gulfstream IV : 5
Gulfstream V : 5
Gulfstream VI : 1
LearJet : 10
LearJet 45 : 7
LearJet 60 : 2
LearJet 35 : 1
Piper : 10
Piper Archer : 5
Piper : 4
Piper Seminole : 1
helikopter : 5
EC-145 : 3
Bell 4xx : 1
H500 : 1
Cirrus : 4
SR-22 : 2
Cirrus Vision : 1
SR-22T : 1
cargo : 3
A300 : 2
C-130J Hercules : 1
military : 2
TexanII : 1
C-130J Hercules : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 1991
Callsign is tail number: 187
Blockheads: 25
PIA: 0
Spionen: 0
Numerical: 4
Unidentified: 15
150 flights got close to the antenna.
N111LE did this the most, 6 times.
IDAHO23 flew nearby the longest for 22.5 minutes.
N55AP was closest to the antenna, 945 ft away.
Busiest plane: N86324 an E75L flew 8 routes for ASH.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 519
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 356
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 166
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 115
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 87
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 86
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 77
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 48
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 29
EJA/1I - NetJets : 28
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 19
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 16
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 15
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 12
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 11
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 11
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 9
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 9
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 8
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 7
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 6
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 5
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 4
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 4
BAW/BA - British Airways : 4
HAL/HA - Hawaiian Airlines : 4
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 4
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 4
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 4
JUS/U7 - USA Jet Airlines : 4
WJA/WS - WestJet : 4
JSX/XE - JSX : 4
AFR/AF - Air France : 3
CLX/CV - Cargolux : 3
FRG/ - Freight Runners Express : 3
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 3
RPA/RW - Republic Airlines : 3
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 3
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 3
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 3
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 2
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
UAE/EK - Emirates : 2
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 2
BOX/3S - Aerologic : 2
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 2
SCM/ - American Jet International : 1
TAA/ - Aeroservicios de La Costa : 1
BYA/ - Berry Aviation : 1
CAY/KX - Cayman Airways : 1
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 1
EMD/ - Eaglemed (Ballard Aviation) : 1
EAL/EA - European Air Express : 1
HER/UD - Hex'Air : 1
GEC/LH - Lufthansa Cargo : 1
QFA/QF - Qantas : 1
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 1
YEL/YE - Yellowtail : 1
NCR/N8 - National Air Cargo : 1
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 1
CWG/ - Wing Aviation : 1
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 1
CAP/ - Civil Air Patrol : 1
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 1
ACW/ - SERVICIOS AEREOS ACROSS, S.A. DE C.V. : 1
CNV/ - US Navy Air Logistics Office : 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.