An ADS-B Receiver That's as Independent as Possible
Just note that I am not a pilot. I'm a radio guy who listens in on random things, including airplanes that fly overhead. ADS-B Background Traditionally, radar was used to track flights, but that has some problems. First, radar could only see so much and so far. If you were behind a mountain or out of range, no one could see you. Even if you could be seen by radar, only ATC would know where you were; the rest of the pilots in the sky had to rely on information from ATC and their own eyeballs to make sure there weren't any other aircraft in the area. Enter ADS-B. Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is a system used by aircraft to transmit pertinent information like location in real-time as well as providing weather and other information for pilots. With an appropriate transponder onboard, aircraft continually send out their registration, serial number, and ICAO address along with their position, altitude, and speed. With the addition of ground-based transceivers (