Tagged: virtual radar server

ADSBExchange now using tar1090: Historical Flight Tracks, Military Aircraft Filters and more

ADSBExchange is an aircraft tracking website service which aggregates ADS-B data from contributors running RTL-SDR's or similar receivers worldwide.

However, unlike other flight tracking sites such as flightaware and flightradar24, ADSBExchange sets themselves apart by proudly refusing to censor the tracking of military and private jets that have requested privacy. One area where this refusal to self-censor helps is with the "Dictator Alert" service. This is a service that automatically tracks the movements of private aircraft owned by authoritarian regimes via the ADS-B data collected and shared by ADSBExchange. 

Recently ADSBExchange upgraded their web interface moving from the old Virtual Radar Server system to tar1090 which is a more fully featured open source display for dump1090. This new interface has some great features, like the ability to view the complete flight track history of any aircraft on a particular day, the ability to display only military aircraft and the ability to filter by altitude and aircraft type. 

ADSBExchange.com new tar1090 interface
ADSBExchange.com new tar1090 interface
Viewing the tracks of 1-day of police helicopter activity in the new ADSBExchange tar1090 interface.
Viewing the historic tracks of 1-day of police helicopter activity in the new ADSBExchange tar1090 interface.

ADS-B Virtual Radar RTL-SDR Tutorial in the ARRL QST Magazine

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) a.k.a The American National Association for Amateur Radio has put online a freely available ADS-B tutorial featured in their monthly QST magazine, written by Robert Nichols, W9RAN. The tutorial focuses on using an R820T RTL-SDR dongle to receive ADS-B signals, and then using computer software to decode the signals and create a virtual aircraft radar.

ADS-B is a protocol used by most modern aircraft to broadcast their position and altitude which is determined via GPS. ADS-B is intended to supplement and eventually replace traditional radar.

In this ADS-B tutorial, they show how to create a weatherproofed 1090 MHz collinear antenna from RG-6/U coax and PVC pipe and how to use the ADSB# and virtual radar server software to decode and visualize aircraft positions, like a radar.

If interested, we also have an ADS-B virtual radar tutorial that can be found here.

ADS-B Virtual Air Radar Tutorial by the ARRL
ADS-B Virtual Air Radar Tutorial by the ARRL

Virtual Radar Server running on a Raspberry Pi with Mono

YouTube user 907h9879070g9790 has posted a video showing Virtual Radar Server running on a Raspberry Pi with the Raspian hardfloat image OS installed. He used Mono to allow the .NET based Virtual Radar Server to run on the Raspberry Pi. Instructions for using Virtual Radar Server with Mono can be found here.

Combined with an rtl-sdr and dump1090, ADS-B packets can be sent to Virtual Radar Server, and then the aircraft radar map can be viewed on a PC or internet enabled device via a network connection. This can allow a small self contained remote ADS-B monitoring system to be set up.

EDIT: Unfortunately the video owner has taken down the video.

RTL-SDR Tutorial: Cheap ADS-B Aircraft RADAR

The RTL-SDR can be used as a super cheap real time air radar. Modern planes use something called an ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) Mode-S transponder, which periodically broadcasts location and altitude information to air traffic controllers. The RTL-SDR can be used to listen to these ADS-B signals, which can then be used to create your very own home aircraft radar system. Compared to dedicated commercial ADS-B receivers which can go for between $200 - $1000, the $20 RTL-SDR is very attractive for the hobbyist in terms of price. However, note that the RTL-SDR probably shouldn't be used for ADS-B navigation in a real aircraft for safety reasons. 

ADS-B broadcasts at a frequency of 1090 MHz. It has been discovered by the RTL-SDR community, that the RTL-SDR with R820T tuner has the best sensitivity at this frequency. The E4000 and other tuners perform poorly in comparison. So it is recommended that you obtain an R820T tuner if you want to set up ADS-B decoding with the RTL-SDR. Recently there has also been talk about the R820T2 tuner, which seems to have slightly better performance too. See the Buy RTL-SDR dongles page for more information on where to purchase.

We also now note that recently new higher end SDR's like the $199 Airspy have developed very good ADS-B receivers that are several times more sensitive that the RTL-SDR.

Examples of RTL-SDR used as an ADS-B air radar

In this video, YouTube user Superphish shows a timelapse of air traffic over New Zealand using RTL-SDR, ADSB# and Virtual Radar Server.

ADSB Virtual Air RADAR with RTL SDR (RTL2832), ADSB Sharp and Virtual Radar Server

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