Tagged: ads-b

Hak5: Using a Solar Powered Embedded Device with an RTL-SDR to Track Aircraft Remotely

Over on YouTube Hak5, a popular electronics enthusiast channel has uploaded a video showing their project which involves creating a remote solar powered ADS-B receiver with the RTL-SDR. They used a WiFi Pineapple which is a mini Linux based embedded computer as a remote PC and sealed it in a weather tight briefcase with a lead acid battery and solar panel. They also used a high gain directional WiFi antenna on both the transmitting and receiving ends. With this setup the WiFi Pineapple is capable of running indefinitely transmitting ADS-B data using just the solar panel and battery.

They took their setup to the top of a hill near to their office and pointed the transmitting WiFi antenna towards their offices. Then back in the comfort of their offices they were able to remotely connect to the WiFi Pineapple and start a dump1090 webserver and connect to it using Virtual Radar Server.

Solar WiFi Pineapple Briefcase, Aircraft Tracking with High Gain Point-to-Point, Hak5 1614

Transmitting ADS-B with a HackRF and Receiving it with an RTL-SDR

Over on YouTube user Jiao Xianjun has uploaded a video showing how he was able to transmit an ADS-B signal from his HackRF One and receive it using an RTL-SDR with dump1090. He transmits a low power signal which shows a fake plane flying over the Senkaku islands.

Important Note: While this warning is also on the video we feel that we should re-emphasize that you should never transmit anything at 1090 MHz unless you are authorized to do so and are in a controlled RF environment.

ADS-B out by HACKRF and received by rtl-sdr + dump1090

Hak5: Improvements to the ADS-B Antenna Drone

Previously we posted about the Hak5 teams attempt to create an ADS-B quadcopter receiver which carried a coax collinear antenna, ran the ADS-B decoder dump1090 on board and then transmitted the decoded ADS-B data back to a laptop on the ground via WiFi. Their results were poor due to various factors.

In the latest video they read comments from fans which explain why they had such poor results, then apply some of those recommendations to a second experiment. Previously they had trouble keeping the WiFi connection alive due to poor reception, so now they use a WiFi Yagi to boost the signal strength. They also reduced the number of elements on their coax collinear antenna and moved away from the broadcast RF transmitter that they were near in their last video.

There isn’t a big increase in the number of planes picked up in the second experiment but it was much more successful compared to the first.

A Better Aircraft Seeking Drone Antenna, Hak5 1613

ADS-B Decoder dump1090 now Available on Windows

Dump1090 is a popular command line ADS-B decoder which many people believe has superior decoding performance compared to other decoding software. Previously it has only been available for Linux and Mac operating systems, however recently it has been updated with a Windows command line version. The most up to date branch of dump1090 can be downloaded from GitHub here.

To install dump1090 on Windows follow these steps:

  1. Download the dump1090 zip file from the GitHub download link.
  2. Download the official RTL-SDR Windows release from http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/attachment/wiki/rtl-sdr/RelWithDebInfo.zip.
  3. Copy the libusb-1.0.dll, rtlsdr.dll and pthreadVC2-w32.dll files from the official RTL-SDR Windows release zip file to the dump1090 folder. Rename pthreadVC2-w32.dll to pthreadVC2.dll.
  4. Double click on dump1090.bat.

The batch file starts a dump1090 webserver which can be viewed in any browser by going to http://localhost:8080. You may wish to edit the batch file and add extra flags such as –aggressive and/or –fix to improve decoding.

Modesdeco: Now Supports Simultaneous Reception of Mode S and Mode A/C

Modesdeco is a Windows/Linux/OSX/RPi compatible command line ADS-B Mode S decoder built for the RTL-SDR. It natively supports the BaseStation format and so can be used with the BaseStation software without the need for com port converters.

Modesdeco has recently been updated to allow for the simultaneous reception of Mode S and Mode A/C. Mode S provides location data for ADS-B while Mode A provides an identification code and Mode C provides the aircraft’s pressure altitude.

Effect of a Filter on RTL-SDR ADS-B Reception

Over on YouTube user Adam Alicajic has posted a video showing the effect of a filter tuned for 1090 MHz used on ADS-B reception. Adam switches the filter in an out showing the difference in the number of received ADS-B frames. With the filter enabled he is able to receive around 1200 messages per second and without only around 800 messages per second.

A filter (aka preselector) can help to reduce out of band interference from strong signals.

DVB-T dongle receiving the ADS-B using the filter

Hak5: ADS-B on a Quadcopter carrying a Wifi Enabled Linux Computer, RTL-SDR and Coaxial Collinear Antenna

Over on YouTube, Hak5 a electronics enthusiast channel has posted a video showing an interesting ADS-B project they undertook.

The Hak5 team took a quadcopter up on top of a high mountain, attached to it a WiFi Pineapple (a small WiFi equipped Linux computer), an RTL-SDR dongle and a coax collinear antenna and then flew it up high. They ran dump1090, a Linux based ADS-B decoder on the WiFi pineapple and then broadcast the decoded information back to a laptop on the ground.

Although the results were less than favourable, it is still an interesting project to explore. Their poor results may be due to a nearby RF broadcast tower which could have been overloading the dongle, or EMF from the quadcopter motors.

Tracking Aircraft over 300 miles away! Mountain + Drone + SDR, Hak5 1609

Interest Check for an ADS-B Folded Monopole Antenna

Adam, manufacturer of the LNA4ALL and LNA4HF is putting out an interest check for an ADS-B folded monopole antenna. The antenna can efficiently cover the 1030 MHz to 1090 MHz frequencies that are used by ADS-B.

The major advantage to Adams antenna is that it uses a DC grounded design, eliminating static build up problems that can potentially fry your LNA or RTL-SDR dongle.

If there is sufficient interest, Adam will sell the antenna for 20 Euros.

ADS-B Folded Monopole Antenna
ADS-B Folded Monopole Antenna