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: 1398
Unassigned icao range: 0
United States: 1305 93.35%
Mexico: 47 3.36%
Canada: 17 1.22%
United Kingdom: 6 0.43%
United States Luftwaffe: 4 0.29%
Panama: 2 0.14%
Spain: 2 0.14%
Netherlands: 2 0.14%
United Arab Emirates: 2 0.14%
Taiwan: 2 0.14%
Qatar: 1 0.07%
Guatemala: 1 0.07%
France: 1 0.07%
Germany: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Bermuda: 1 0.07%
Switzerland: 1 0.07%
Turkey: 1 0.07%
Japan: 1 0.07%
New Zealand: 1 0.07%
Brazil: 1 0.07%

Airframe summary

Boeing : 541
B737 : 319
B737-MAX : 146
B767 : 30
B777 : 15
B787 : 12
B757 : 8
B717 : 5
B747 : 4
RC-135 : 1
C-17 Globemaster : 1
Airbus : 232
A321 : 75
A320 : 49
A319 : 48
A321-neo : 26
A320-neo : 25
A300 : 5
A350 : 2
A330 : 1
A380 : 1
unknown : 141
Embraer : 133
ERJ-175 : 80
E-145XR : 32
E-190 : 10
Phenom : 8
E-145 : 2
E-170 : 1
Cessna : 78
Citation Encore : 16
Citation Soverign : 16
Skyhawk-172 : 15
Citation-525 : 10
Citation Longitude : 8
Citation Bravo : 6
Skylane-182 : 5
Citation : 1
Chancellor-414 : 1
Bombardier : 57
A220 : 18
Challenger : 15
CRJ200 : 9
CRJ700 : 9
CRJ900 : 5
Global Express : 1
PIC : 31
Piper Archer : 16
Skyhawk-172 : 15
Beechcraft : 28
200 Super King Air : 8
90 King Air : 5
300 Super King Air : 5
Beechjet : 4
Bonanza : 3
Baron : 2
Travel Air : 1
Gulfstream : 25
Gulfstream V : 12
Gulfstream IV : 9
Galaxy : 2
Gulfstream VI : 2
Piper : 24
Piper Archer : 16
Piper : 4
Piper Malibu : 2
Piper Seminole : 2
LearJet : 17
LearJet 60 : 7
LearJet 35 : 4
LearJet 45 : 4
LearJet : 1
LearJet 31 : 1
other : 17
Hawker : 7
HondaJet : 5
Mooney 20 : 4
MD-8x : 1
helikopter : 16
JetRanger : 4
EC-145 : 4
H500 : 3
S-92 : 2
R66 : 1
EC-135 : 1
Blackhawk : 1
Dassault : 13
Falcon : 8
Falcon900 : 3
Falcon2000 : 2
cargo : 8
A300 : 5
MD-11 : 2
C-17 Globemaster : 1
Cirrus : 6
Cirrus Vision : 5
SR-22T : 1
military : 3
RC-135 : 1
Blackhawk : 1
C-17 Globemaster : 1
NASA : 1
WB-57F Canberra : 1

Airline flight summary

Total : 2305
Callsign is tail number: 255
Blockheads: 45
PIA: 3
Spionen: 3
Numerical: 0
Unidentified: 29
86 flights got close to the antenna.
N5278F did this the most, 10 times.
N5278F flew nearby the longest for 20.8 minutes.
N25PK was closest to the antenna, 2544 ft away.
Busiest plane: N23139 an E45X flew 7 routes for UCA.
UAL/UA - United Airlines : 534
SWA/WN - Southwest Airlines : 387
AAL/AA - American Airlines : 156
ASH/YV - Mesa Airlines : 152
SKW/OO - SkyWest : 111
UCA/C5 - CommutAir : 109
DAL/DL - Delta Air Lines : 107
NKS/NK - Spirit Airlines : 70
FDX/FX - Federal Express : 26
UPS/5X - United Parcel Service : 25
EJA/1I - NetJets : 23
AMX/AM - AeroMéxico : 20
VIV/VB - Aeroenlaces Nacionales : 17
FFT/F9 - Frontier Airlines : 17
VOI/Y4 - Volaris : 17
ASA/AS - Alaska Airlines : 15
JBU/B6 - JetBlue Airways : 15
ENY/MQ - Envoy Air : 15
SLI/5D - AeroMexico Connect : 14
ACA/AC - Air Canada : 11
ATN/8C - Air Transport International : 10
LXJ/ - Flexjet : 8
XAA/ - Aeronautical Radio Inc : 7
CJT/W8 - Cargojet Airways : 7
BAW/BA - British Airways : 6
SCX/SY - Sun Country Airlines : 6
TAI/TA - Taca International Airlines : 6
SCM/ - American Jet International : 5
WJA/WS - WestJet : 5
GTI/5Y - Atlas Air : 4
HAL/HA - Hawaiian Airlines : 4
KLM/KL - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines : 3
CNS/ - Cobalt Air : 3
JSX/XE - JSX : 3
AAY/G4 - Allegiant Air : 2
ABX/GB - ABX Air : 2
AFR/AF - Air France : 2
ANA/NH - All Nippon Airways : 2
ANZ/NZ - Air New Zealand : 2
NGF/ - Angel Flight America : 2
VTM/ - Aeronaves TSM : 2
LET/ - Aerolineas Ejecutivas : 2
CMP/CM - Copa Airlines : 2
EVA/BR - EVA Air : 2
UAE/EK - Emirates : 2
EJM/ - Executive Jet Management : 2
DCM/ - FLTPLAN : 2
IBE/IB - Iberia Airlines : 2
QTR/QR - Qatar Airways : 2
LBQ/ - Quest Diagnostics : 2
THY/TK - Turkish Airlines : 2
EDV/9E - Endeavor Air : 2
TWY/ - Sunset Aviation, LLC : 2
ACW/ - SERVICIOS AEREOS ACROSS, S.A. DE C.V. : 2
RCH/MC - Air Mobility Command : 1
BYA/ - Berry Aviation : 1
GTX/ - GTA Air : 1
KFS/ - Kalitta Charters : 1
DLH/LH - Lufthansa : 1
JIA/OH - PSA Airlines : 1
RAX/ - Royal Air Freight : 1
USC/ - US Check Airlines : 1
TYS/YO - TransHolding System : 1
XSR/ - Executive AirShare : 1
ASP/SP - Aspen Airways : 1
JTL/ - Jet Linx Aviation : 1
FFL/ - ForeFlight : 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.