Aeronautics: USRA Engineers Successfully Test Portable ADS-B Data Collection Package

February 2021

NTX team members Jody Null, Senior Systems Engineer (USRA) and Keenan Roach, Senior Engineer (USRA) successfully tested a prototype ADS-B data collection package at DFW international airport. Multiple units are required to support the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) testing scheduled for the Spring of 2021, which will include capturing data transmitted by a test aircraft over its entire flight path.  The ADS-B package consists of receivers, antennas, power supply and large data storage in a compact portable bundle. The “portable” aspect is key in that It is not required to be connected to any fixed power or network source in order to function. This allows researchers to place these units in various locations along an aircraft’s flight path in effort to maintain line-of-sight between the aircraft and receivers. The cost of components is about one third of the cost of a comparable commercial receiver. Also, by leveraging open-source software methods from the ADS-B hobbyist community, these receivers are not bound to propriety data schemes and can therefore stream data in any format desired. The collected data will be used for post-flight analysis, in comparison with other data sources captured during flight tests. Multiple receivers will be deployed as a form of risk reduction in effort to maintain complete signal coverage; the goal being to capture several perspectives of transmissions received over the air.