Looking for interesting ADS-B Airplane Tracking ideas - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: smbaker
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2020, 03:23:32 pm
content: I'm looking for ADS-B tracking ideas that are more interesting than shipping the data off to flightaware and letting flightaware aggregate it in the cloud. What I'm interested in are applications that would have a local aspect at the receiver site, such as having to perform local computation or local data storage. The monitoring location in my example would be fixed (i.e. in my attic); I'm not looking for applications where the monitoring devices themselves is airborn.Some examples (thinking of something an ATC might do) might be computing vectors to determine whether the probability of an aircraft entering a specific geographic boundary, or computing vectors between aircraft to generate collision avoidance analysis.I see SDR receivers for sale for doing flight tracking, it's often interested me, and I know there is a significant hobby around this, but I'm not sure what people actually do with the data (other than ship it off to flightaware).

author: hagster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2020, 05:44:20 am
content: You could create algorithms for detecting unusual flight trajectories. This could even be an machine learning system that sorts and groups similar flights together. Plenty of auto clustering techniques that could be applied.Some examples could be.Low flyingOrbitsSearch grids (often mapping flights)Non standard routes

author: 0culus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2020, 06:24:36 am
content: Look for stuff that might be military. They have their ADS-B turned on more often than you'd think when operating in CONUS (and even some OCONUS). Depending on where you are, you can see some interesting stuff up there. For instance, if you happen to be in CA, you may be able to pick up U-2s operating out of Beale AFB. On the coasts, you may see Navy E-6 Mercury TACAMO missions, and also P-8 Poseidons. The E-4B Nightwatch is up out of Offutt AFB fairly often too, as one will always be shadowing AF1.  earlier this week I saw a blurb about an aviation photographer who happened to catch a B-2 tanking from a KC-10 over Kansas. So yeah, if anything, local monitoring of things like this can tell you when to go outside and look up.

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2020, 06:55:34 pm
content: Hmm be aware of Military and Official stuff you even could caught for hight treason.

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 27, 2020, 03:46:02 am
content: Quote from: Lord of nothing on September 26, 2020, 06:55:34 pmYou do realise that if there any truth to this none of the ADS-B aggregators (FlightAware, FlightRadar24 et-al) would be in business, they would all have been charged with treason and shutdown a long time ago.The ADS-B system is a broadcast (that's what the B stands for) system which broadcasts aircraft position information for use by the general aviation community, any operator who chooses to purchase a receiver can use the information, and in most ICAO member countries, the use of ADS-B is mandatory as of January 2020 - in the US ALL aircraft MUST be ADS-B equipped, and they are now considering it as a requirement on drones..Most of the aggregators do filter the incoming traffic before displaying it and will either not provide detailed information if requested to do so by the aircraft operator, this is common with private jets, they will just be shown with a type identifier (eg GLF4 in the case of a GulfStream IV), or in the case of US "Special Air Missions", they will not display anything - this is done as a courtesy to the private jet operators and also as a condition under which the aggregator has to comply with if they wish to receive information from federal sources.At least one of the aggregators has opted not to accept information from federal sources and displays all traffic unfiltered.

author: smbaker
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2020, 08:16:42 am
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on September 26, 2020, 07:27:36 pmGreat idea, that thought crossed my mind too -- a PTZ with a decent zoom lens or even a small telescope. Throw in some AI/ML vision stuff to keep the optics locked on the aircraft long enough to get some decent photos.Quote from: fordemSo one could look for interesting flights that donotappear in flightaware. (and keep the data private, of course)Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2020, 09:08:03 am
content: There are fun things to be spotted; this was only visible with the raw data.Received on my ultra cheap NooElec R820T SDR & DVB-T receiver

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2020, 11:27:23 am
content: The good old Areal Pictures we all love.I got the same idea way back when I watched a Video from a Youtuber who took a Medical Device appart maybe it was Dave and the found some hight power Camera inside.

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2020, 02:22:38 am
content: Quote from: smbaker on September 30, 2020, 08:16:42 amPersonally I find flightaware better suited to tracking flights that I have a particular interest in, for example, a family member is on board, and flightradar24 better suited to showing what is in the air around a given geographical location.I've been fooling around with ADS-B for maybe five years or so, using a single RaspberryPi based receiver without feeding to any of the aggregators, but I have become perhaps more interested (or more serious) and within the past few weeks have been building out more RPi based devices feeding a "local aggregator", as there has recently been an increase in "military related" air traffic locally.Because of my location, there is a relatively limited number (<50) of ICAO addresses that appear regularly, so if I wanted I could filter those and alert if/when any new or unfamiliar address shows up. In a country like the US this approach would be impractical.I don't know if you know this, but, the same hardware can also be used for maritime tracking (AIS tracking), however, the frequencies are lower, requiring the antennas to be somewhat larger (and more noticeable) and is really only worthwhile if you live along the coast, and even then only if you're also near a sea port.

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2020, 02:29:17 am
content: Quote from: Lord of nothing on September 30, 2020, 11:27:23 amGiven the geographical location, approval from a very high level would have been required to fly that pattern - it's some sort of aerial survey, most likely "photo-mapping."

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2020, 01:35:19 pm
content: Quote from: fordem on October 01, 2020, 02:29:17 amIt was during the lockdown, perfect time for a survey.