Tracking Planes Above Your House with ADS-B
Sky Sleuth
© Lead Image © Oleksiy Tsupe, 123RF.com
Curious about the planes that fly over your home? With some simple and affordable equipment, you can receive their ADS-B signals and uncover detailed flight information.
If a plane is flying above your house, do you ever wonder about its origin and destination? While there are many websites that provide this information (see Figure 1 for an example), you don't actually need them. In many countries around the world, various aircraft types (primarily commercial passenger carriers) are required to be equipped with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transmitter. ADS-B provides air traffic controllers with more information about the aircraft than what radar can offer. With a simple antenna and an RTL-SDR USB dongle, anyone can capture these signals and process them on a computer.
Figure 1: Planes are tracked on various websites, such as airplanes.live.
ADS-B works automatically, broadcasting the flight state periodically without input from the pilot or air traffic controller. Typically, the aircraft transmits its position, altitude, and speed, along with its call sign for identification. This is how those websites are able to show you planes on a map: They use data from a network of computers equipped with an ADS-B receiver, which is then visualized and supplemented with external data. For more in-depth details about ADS-B and decoding signals, consider reading The 1090 Megahertz Riddle [1], which you can download for free.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
System76 Refreshes the Lemur Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop with tons of power and battery, look no further than the latest iteration of the System76 Lemur Pro.
-
More than 43 Million Lines of Code in Linux Kernel 7.2
Using the cloc utility, Michael Larabel of Phoronix discovered that Linux kernel 7.2 has over 43 million lines of code.
-
Kubuntu Focus Goes Ultra
The Kubuntu Focus team has upped the performance ante of its M2 and Zr laptops with the latest, greatest CPUs from Intel.
-
Linux Gamers May Soon See Less Mouse Lag in KDE Plasma
Gamers using KDE’s Plasma desktop have been suffering from a slight input delay in mouse movement that could lead to getting fragged.
-
Three Lines of Code Improve Linux Storage Performance
A developer changed three lines of code, giving Linux storage performance a 5% bump.
-
AUR Hit Again with Malicious Packages
Once again the Arch User Repository is plagued by a high volume of malicious packages.
-
Alpine Linux 3.24 Features Fresh Desktops and a Newer Kernel
If you're a fan of Alpine Linux, it's time to upgrade because the latest version has been released with KDE Plasma 6.6, Gnome 50, and Linux kernel 6.18 LTS.
-
EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
Comprehensive measures adopted by the European Commission aim to reduce dependency on non-EU countries.
-
Linux Foundation Report Indicates AI Driving Tech Hiring
Within growing security and skills gaps, AI has been found to be a positive driving force behind tech hiring trends in Europe.
-
United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
A new open source portal seeks to coordinate and scale open source efforts across the United Nations system.