I just finished reading The Aviators Guide to Navigation 4th Ed, and the last chapter talked about ADS-B and that GA aircraft would require to be equipped for that by 2020. So I was googling about ADS-B and found this site which allows me to see live traffic based on ADS-B
I’ve seen other sites out there for tracking airline flights, but this allows me to see the GA traffic flying out of my local airport over my house or anywhere else. I’ve been hooked on the site ever since I found it. I can see people flying circuits at my local KJQF in a PA28, and of course regional jets and airliners flying over the area.
Haven’t seen much about ADS-B in the forums here and wondering if that kind of equipment can be or will be implemented in the sim?
Your don’t just have to look at other people’s data, a basic USB SDR (Software Defined Radio) allows your to pick up the signals yourself.
That sounds expensive but a fair few years back people discovered that cheap digital TV usb sticks just needed tweaks to their drivers to access a MUCH wider range of radio signals including 1090MHz where ADS-B signals are transmitted.
ADS-B (and SDR in general) is a fascinating rabbit hole to go down and if you do set up the kit you can also submit your own data to sites like FlightAware and FlightRadar24 which often gets you perks in return.
SDR looks interesting but is probably a deeper rabbit hole than I have time to go down. I like the way this site pulls all that data/information together for me.
I can click on an aircraft and see all kinds of information about it as well as a visual trail of its path. Those other sites you mentioned, Flightaware and FlightRadar24 only seem to show commercial or jetliner traffic from what I can see. But on this site, I’m seeing lots of GA aircraft, piper arrows, vans rvs, cessnas, in addition to the commercial aircraft. Seeing the small GA aircraft traffic is the interesting part to me.
FlightRadar24 does show general aviation aircraft. I’ve flown in single-engine Cessnas while my Civil Air Patrol (CAP) fellow volunteers tracked using FlightRadar24, and I’ve installed a FlightRadar24 receiver in a CAP building.
ADS-B Exchange is a great site. It’s not as “complete” as something like Flight Radar 24 and is basically a step above raw data but it gives you visibility into things you won’t normally see on FR24. For example, Military aircraft and those corporate GA flights that normally appear as “? ?” or “BLOCKED” on FR24 will be available to see on ADS-B Exchange. You can filter on Military and be amazed at the number of military aircraft airborne at any given time, especially in the US. Here’s an example:
I’m always leary of installing apps when a website is all you need. Most web sites like this are also web apps, I was able to add this site to my home screen the same as an app store app without having to install an app. It now opens in full screen mode just like a normal app instead of just in the web browser on my phone. I like the web apps better because there are less security issues vs trusting and installing an app in the app store. Web apps are more like a bookmark, nothing is installed but the bookmark, so nothing running in the background tracking you all the time.
Thanks folks. ADS-B is only “emulated” because Live Traffic / Flight Aware data is fed via the Firehose API. That happens when the Garmin units for example provide you Traffic Advisory indications on the MFD. This link provides more insight into the API in general.
Let’s please keep the conversation focused on the MSFS use of ADS-B. Thanks.
So as far as MSFS, is there any simulation of ADS-B equipment in the aircraft or on the ground?
The book I read made it sound like various approaches and glideslopes would use that equipment, but I didn’t get a lot of details on how that works other than it uses satellites and on board equipment to broadcast.
ADS-B-equipped aircraft broadcast ADS-B signals to each other. However, ground-based ADS-B rebroadcasts ADS-B signals to aircraff, as well. It’s called ADS-R (where the “R” stands for “rebroadcast”).
In the US (and the US only, as far as I’m aware), ADS-B is broadcast on two frequencies: 1090 MHz, which is what the world (and TCAS) uses, and 978 MHz, which is more geared toward general aviation. Most of the rest of the world does not have a GA mandate (to my knowledge) for ADS-B, but in the US, there was a mandate that applied to all aircraft for certain airspaces. And there was a concern that if everyone broadcast on 1090 that they would run out of bandwidth. So 978 MHz was born. An aircraft broadcasting at 978 MHz on ADS-B Out cannot receive 1090 MHz transmissions via ADS-B In, and likewise, an aircraft broadcasting on 1090 cannot receive 978 MHz transmissions. ADS-R solves that by rebroadcasting everything on both frequencies.
In the US only, aircraft with 978 MHz ADS-B In receivers can also get free weather.
In the sim, it’s just given to us and it only pertains to real-world traffic. So at the moment, there would be no need to model ground stations. In Wishlist, there is a monstrous TCAS Wishlist topic and a teeny tiny ADS-B In Wishlist topic that nobody voted for. My guess is that the average person doesn’t know the difference. But my hope is that when the MSFS team implements the TCAS Wishlist topic that they will also model ADS-B In, as well, so that GA aircraft can see each other, too.
I like to use https://events.flighttracker.tech/ for tracking similar to ADS-B in MSFS. If you click Join on the right you’ll download a simple app that connects to MSFS and broadcasts your position, which you can then follow by selecting the “Select your aircraft” drop-down on the website. There is also the option to teleport your aircraft to any other location which is handy (I used the recently due to MSFS spawning my aircraft half inside a hanger and couldn’t get push back to work).
