5 ms·

That Plane Overhead: Starring Our Friends SDR, ADS-B, I2C and KLGA

100 points by bentaber 11y ago

JoblessWonder 11y ago
You can also use ADS-B to track government planes overhead! See what neighborhoods they are spying on and where they are based! Self-adjusting tinfoil hat not include. (ADS-B broadcasts were what caught Gov owned aircraft circling recently in Baltimore and other cities.)
- 3princip 11y ago
  Planes also broadcast air temperature, wind speed and direction along with the usual altitude, speed and position. A lot of planes are flying overhead so I thought it might be neat to combine that data, as usual a quick search turned up some researchers in NL who already thought of that a few years ago. [1] There's a lot of data around us, and lots cool projects to collect and analyze it as well. [1] http://bibliotheek.knmi.nl/knmipubTR/TR336.pdf http://bibliotheek.knmi.nl/knmipubTR/TR336.pdf
  - Veratyr 11y ago
    You can find all kinds of things in UAT. Not just weather but you can find various equipment information like the landing gear coming down, message sent from the plane (SMS, crew) and there have even been times they broadcast credit card data!
  - waterlesscloud 11y ago
    Very cool! I had no idea that information was there! Time for a new project.
webXL 11y ago
Alright, who else saw this on Alec Muffet's twitter feed while reading about the Sun 2's secret message? Cool, but I'm not sure about the practical uses. Perhaps to test the accuracy of all the flight trackers out there??
- trhway 11y ago
  >Cool, but I'm not sure about the practical uses. paradoxical difference between that consumer grade setup and military grade system: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-flaw-in-the-buk-missile-system-2014-7 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-flaw-in-the-buk-missile-s... "So the Buk can pick up the signal of an aircraft. But if it's operating in standalone mode, it can't tell whether that aircraft is a military target, or a jetliner with nearly 300 people onboard."
- whiskers 11y ago
  A lot of the flight trackers out there are using data from setups very like this! They are often crowdsourced (augmenting that by buying data for areas with little or no coverage like the FAA data for Atlantic/Pacific crossings). It's a fun thing to setup and watch. :-) We sell a similar receiver in our store! https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/mini-digital-tv-stick https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/mini-digital-tv-stick
  - JoblessWonder 11y ago
    FlightAware.com will send you a free one if you are in an area they need coverage for and are willing to keep it plugged in! [1] https://flightaware.com/adsb/ https://flightaware.com/adsb/
  - aeroevan 11y ago
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ is the latest version I think, but I have the same version linked in your shop.
- jeremybmerrill 11y ago
  who needs practical uses?
  - jlgaddis 11y ago
    Exactly, I'm a geek, I don't have practical uses for lots of things that I do. I've got four of these "ADS-B receivers" (Raspberry Pi + SDR dongle + antenna) up and running in four different locations with a few more that still need to be set up and deployed. I don't have a practical use but it is pretty neat. I considered trying to write my own stuff to do MLAT for aircraft without ADS-B transmitters after I get the others deployed but my math probably isn't that good. Another thought was to log all of the location data from all my receivers to a central database and do "something" with it, although I've yet to figure out what that "something" is/would be.
jgrahamc 11y ago
Interesting. This guy is like my twin in New York. I too have an ambient bus tracker (http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/ambient-bus-arrival-monitor-from-hacked.html http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/ambient-bus-arrival-monitor-from...) and an SDR/ADS-B/Pi set up that shows the Heathrow arrival flying over my house (or at least not so far away). If he's built himself an Arduino 'games console' that fits inside a can (http://blog.jgc.org/2011/05/playing-pong-on-pair-of-candy-cans-its.html http://blog.jgc.org/2011/05/playing-pong-on-pair-of-candy-ca...) I'm going to be creeped out.
- jeremybmerrill 11y ago
  you've got me beat there, doppelganger! I love the idea of putting the bus tracker inside a model bus. Do you mind if I steal that idea?
  - jgrahamc 11y ago
    Of course! Plagiarize, Let no one else's work evade your eyes, Remember why the good lord made your eyes, So don't shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize - Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.
knz 11y ago
It likely varies depending upon the fleet at your local airport, but ADS-B implementation in the US has a long way to go before the 2020 deadline. Last time I checked (early 2015) only about 30% of carrier jets near MSP (a major Delta hub) had ADS-B installed/turned on. My understanding is that the cost is under $5,000 per aircraft - it astounds me that for all the money wasted on security theatre the aviation industry has dragged it's feet on ADS-B implementation.

100 points by bentaber 11y ago

You can also use ADS-B to track government planes overhead! See what neighborhoods they are spying on and where they are based! Self-adjusting tinfoil hat not include. (ADS-B broadcasts were what caught Gov owned aircraft circling recently in Baltimore and other cities.)

3princip 11y ago
Planes also broadcast air temperature, wind speed and direction along with the usual altitude, speed and position. A lot of planes are flying overhead so I thought it might be neat to combine that data, as usual a quick search turned up some researchers in NL who already thought of that a few years ago. [1] There's a lot of data around us, and lots cool projects to collect and analyze it as well. [1] http://bibliotheek.knmi.nl/knmipubTR/TR336.pdf http://bibliotheek.knmi.nl/knmipubTR/TR336.pdf
- Veratyr 11y ago
  You can find all kinds of things in UAT. Not just weather but you can find various equipment information like the landing gear coming down, message sent from the plane (SMS, crew) and there have even been times they broadcast credit card data!
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  Very cool! I had no idea that information was there! Time for a new project.

webXL 11y ago

Alright, who else saw this on Alec Muffet's twitter feed while reading about the Sun 2's secret message? Cool, but I'm not sure about the practical uses. Perhaps to test the accuracy of all the flight trackers out there??

trhway 11y ago
>Cool, but I'm not sure about the practical uses. paradoxical difference between that consumer grade setup and military grade system: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-flaw-in-the-buk-missile-system-2014-7 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-flaw-in-the-buk-missile-s... "So the Buk can pick up the signal of an aircraft. But if it's operating in standalone mode, it can't tell whether that aircraft is a military target, or a jetliner with nearly 300 people onboard."
whiskers 11y ago
A lot of the flight trackers out there are using data from setups very like this! They are often crowdsourced (augmenting that by buying data for areas with little or no coverage like the FAA data for Atlantic/Pacific crossings). It's a fun thing to setup and watch. :-) We sell a similar receiver in our store! https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/mini-digital-tv-stick https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/mini-digital-tv-stick
- JoblessWonder 11y ago
  FlightAware.com will send you a free one if you are in an area they need coverage for and are willing to keep it plugged in! [1] https://flightaware.com/adsb/ https://flightaware.com/adsb/
- aeroevan 11y ago
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011HVUEME/ is the latest version I think, but I have the same version linked in your shop.
jeremybmerrill 11y ago
who needs practical uses?
- jlgaddis 11y ago
  Exactly, I'm a geek, I don't have practical uses for lots of things that I do. I've got four of these "ADS-B receivers" (Raspberry Pi + SDR dongle + antenna) up and running in four different locations with a few more that still need to be set up and deployed. I don't have a practical use but it is pretty neat. I considered trying to write my own stuff to do MLAT for aircraft without ADS-B transmitters after I get the others deployed but my math probably isn't that good. Another thought was to log all of the location data from all my receivers to a central database and do "something" with it, although I've yet to figure out what that "something" is/would be.

jgrahamc 11y ago

Interesting. This guy is like my twin in New York. I too have an ambient bus tracker (http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/ambient-bus-arrival-monitor-from-hacked.html http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/ambient-bus-arrival-monitor-from...) and an SDR/ADS-B/Pi set up that shows the Heathrow arrival flying over my house (or at least not so far away). If he's built himself an Arduino 'games console' that fits inside a can (http://blog.jgc.org/2011/05/playing-pong-on-pair-of-candy-cans-its.html http://blog.jgc.org/2011/05/playing-pong-on-pair-of-candy-ca...) I'm going to be creeped out.

jeremybmerrill 11y ago
you've got me beat there, doppelganger! I love the idea of putting the bus tracker inside a model bus. Do you mind if I steal that idea?
- jgrahamc 11y ago
  Of course! Plagiarize, Let no one else's work evade your eyes, Remember why the good lord made your eyes, So don't shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize - Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.

knz 11y ago

It likely varies depending upon the fleet at your local airport, but ADS-B implementation in the US has a long way to go before the 2020 deadline. Last time I checked (early 2015) only about 30% of carrier jets near MSP (a major Delta hub) had ADS-B installed/turned on. My understanding is that the cost is under $5,000 per aircraft - it astounds me that for all the money wasted on security theatre the aviation industry has dragged it's feet on ADS-B implementation.