{"id":3093,"date":"2026-10-31T23:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T23:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fadyanwar.com\/?p=3093"},"modified":"2026-10-31T23:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T23:00:39","slug":"building-an-ads-b-aircraft-tracker-with-airband-correlation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fadyanwar.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/building-an-ads-b-aircraft-tracker-with-airband-correlation\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an ADS-B Aircraft Tracker with Airband Correlation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently got my hands on an RTL-SDR dongle and a Baofeng radio, and I wanted to do something practical with them: receive real aircraft data from the sky and match it with what I hear on the airband. This post walks through the tool I built, how it works, and how you can run it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you tune into airband frequencies (108-137 MHz AM), you hear pilots and controllers talking, but you have no idea which aircraft is which. The callsigns (“Ryanair 449”, “United 1639”) are spoken, but there’s no visual reference. Meanwhile, your RTL-SDR can receive ADS-B signals on 1090 MHz, which contain position, altitude, speed, and callsign for every aircraft in range \u2014 but it’s just a wall of hex codes and numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted a single tool that bridges both worlds: show me the aircraft my SDR sees, enriched with real-world data (registration, type, operator, origin\/destination), and let me type a callsign I hear on the radio to instantly highlight that aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Result<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The tool is a Python script that runs dump1090-mutability<\/code> as a subprocess, polls its JSON output, enriches each aircraft via online APIs, and displays a live-updating terminal table. Here’s what it looks like in action:<\/p>\n\n\n

\nADS-B Aircraft Tracker  |  22:26:50 UTC  |  RTL-SDR + hexdb.io + OpenSky\nReceiver: 53.37, -6.33  |  Aircraft seen: 5\nHighlight filter: 'RYR'\n======================================================================================================================\nICAO    Callsign   Reg       Type    Operator            From        To          Alt(ft) Spd(kt)   Hdg Dist(nm)  Seen\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n4D23FC  RYR9SA     9H-QET    B738    Malta Air           Dublin      -           8550     324    18     13.4   8.4\n4CAD10  RYR6JN     EI-HGX    B38M    Ryanair             Dublin      -           6950     345    39     15.9   7.4\n4CADFC  RYR58MR    EI-IHP    B38M    Ryanair             Dublin      -          34000     399   217     15.6   0.0\n407CF7  DHK051     G-DHLX    B77L    DHL Air             -           -          35000     497   115      8.0   0.0\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Type RYR<\/code> and every Ryanair flight lights up in green. Type clear<\/code> to reset. Press Ctrl+C to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How It Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Architecture<\/h3>\n\n\n
\nRTL-SDR (1090 MHz) --> dump1090-mutability --> aircraft.json (polled)\n                                                      |\n                                                      v\nhexdb.io (reg\/type\/operator) ----+\nOpenSky (origin\/dest, optional) -+--> Enrichment (cached) --> Live Table\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    \n
  1. dump1090-mutability<\/strong> runs as a subprocess and decodes ADS-B signals, writing aircraft data to JSON files every second.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Python script polls aircraft.json<\/code> at a configurable interval (default 2s).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Each aircraft’s ICAO hex code is looked up on hexdb.io<\/strong> for registration, aircraft type, and registered owner\/operator. Results are cached in memory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. If OpenSky Network credentials are provided, the script queries the OpenSky flights endpoint for origin\/destination airports, converted to readable names via a built-in airport dictionary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. An optional airband monitor (rtl_fm<\/code>) runs in parallel for activity correlation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    Key Design Decisions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n