ADS-B Tracking
built by feeders
Real-time flight tracking starts with a receiver on a rooftop or on a windowsill. Feed the aircraft positions yours picks up, expand live coverage of the sky, and get paid back in credits to access our API.
- 1090 MHzOne open frequencyAircraft broadcast on it worldwide
- 2× / secPosition reportsEvery aircraft, about twice a second
- 250+ kmReceiver rangeLine of sight from a rooftop antenna
- 2020MandatedRequired in US and EU controlled airspace
What is ADS-B?
Aircraft announce where they are. Anyone can listen.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) is how modern aircraft report their own position. Each one fixes its location by satellite navigation and broadcasts it, with altitude, speed, heading and identity, about twice a second on 1090 MHz. The signal is open and unencrypted, so a small antenna and radio at home can decode every aircraft within line of sight. That is why real-time flight tracking today rests on tens of thousands of receivers run by hobbyists around the world, each filling in the sky above them.
Aircraft
Fixes its own position by satellite navigation and broadcasts it in the clear.
Receiver
A small antenna and radio at home decode every aircraft within line of sight.
Network
Thousands of receivers are merged into one live picture of the sky.
Growing the network
Every receiver sharpens the picture
Part of the live flight data behind AeroDataBox already comes from a community of ADS-B receivers, and we are expanding that network. Each receiver that joins adds coverage where schedules and airport feeds fall short: actual take-off and landing times, runway detection, registrations and callsigns, and flights that never appear in any timetable. Enable multilateration (MLAT) and your receiver also helps locate older aircraft that broadcast no position at all: when several receivers hear the same transponder, the tiny differences in arrival time reveal where it is. In under-covered parts of the world, one feeder can visibly change the map.
See our coverage map- 01Live aircraft positions and altitudes
- 02Actual take-off and landing times
- 03Runway detection on departure and arrival
- 04Aircraft registrations and callsigns
- 05Flights that appear in no schedule
- 06Positions of aircraft without ADS-B, via MLAT
Feed ADS-B data. Get flight data back.
We pay feeders in the currency that matters to a developer: API credits. Every position your receiver reports converts into credits for our flight and aviation data API. They work with or without a subscription and can power a project entirely for free. Whether you run a receiver today or are about to build one, this is the rare network where an antenna on your roof turns into API access.
Paid back in API credits
Positions your receiver reports may be converted into API credits to power up your project.
No subscription needed
Credits let you call the API on their own, or top up a paid plan once its monthly units run out.
Boosted with MLAT
Take part in multilateration and your positions convert at a better rate — better still with peers nearby.
Feed alongside anyone
Already feeding other networks? No problem, your existing feeds keep running untouched.
Anyone can feed. Converting positions into API credits requires an account and direct API access through this site. See the feeding guidefor the setup, the receiver claim and the conversion details.