ADS-B Aircraft Tracking with readsb

With a cheap RTL-SDR dongle and an antenna you can receive ADS-B — the 1090 MHz signal aircraft broadcast with position, altitude, and ID — and plot live traffic overhead.

#How it works

Aircraft transmit ADS-B constantly. readsb decodes the 1090 MHz Mode-S frames into positions you can map (tar1090) or share with networks (FlightAware, ADSB.lol).

readsb --device-type rtlsdr --gain 49.6 --net --write-json /run/readsb

#One dongle, one job

A receiver typically runs ADS-B 24/7, which means that dongle is busy and can't be used for other bands at the same time. To also capture weather satellites, use a second dongle or schedule around each other.

#Antenna matters most

Related: Weather Satellite Imaging with NOAA and Meteor · Home Lab Fleet Architecture