gnirtS
First Officer
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
Offline
|
Ian in London Posted at 5-1 23:01
That's disappointing to read gnirt. I had already thought it would be a bit pointless to be informed of an airliner passing over at 25,000 ft, but a light aircraft or helicopter would be very useful.... Either way, would be nice if I had been able to play with it myself
Well if you want to see what ADSB can offer you can built a receiver yourself. Just buy a £12 DVB-T usb stick and plug it into a phone with the correct software (android).
Or just a laptop, desktop, Raspberry Pi etc.
Failing that, download flightradar24 app or similar - its ADS-B but with opt-out lists and only displays whats in range of other peoples receivers (so high altitude long range, lower altitudes shorter).
But ultimately the most likely things to conflict with a drone are going to be GA light aircraft, helicopters, military, gliders and similar. By and large most of these do not have ADSB transmitters so wont show at all.
Im not worried about being buzzed by an A380 or binliner at 400ft flying my drone at all (which ADSB will show) - im far more worried about a C172 or Eurofighter down there catching me by surprise (which generally ADSB wont).
If you're operating PfCO or in proximity to airports i can see Airsense being much more useful but in that case i'd also expect you to have telephone and/or VHF radio contact with ATC which kind of negates it.
Even in the US where ADSB is in theory mandatory from 2020 the last figures i can see from Q4 2019 state only 44% of GA are fitted.Results from a UK CAA survey (admittedly 2 years old):
"Only one-in-six fixed-wing aeroplane pilots reported using ADS-B already, mostly integrated with a Mode S transponder. A further third of pilots fly aeroplanes that are Mode S equipped, but have not been adapted to use ADS-B. Meanwhile, almost 90 per cent of glider pilots who responded use FLARM – the anti-collision system designed specifically for gliders."
But really, if anyone is curious about ADSB coverage in their area look into spending £20 or so and building a receiver (usb stick into laptop - its a 10 minute job). You'll rapidly get a feel for what a/c you can see outside display and what dont.
I use a DVB-T stick plugged into a RaPi to provide me with local coverage and also feed the data to fr24 and several other suppliers from home.
Ive never used this but you can see what i mean about how easy it is to self-build:-
https://null-byte.wonderhowto.co ... smartphone-0179666/
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/android- ... d-aircraft-display/
Or using a RaPi/Pi Zero:- https://www.allaboutcircuits.com ... ware-defined-radio/
so ultimately, if you're bored,go ahead and try it just to see if you think its worth it based on whats received. If you DO think you need it, a PiZero is tiny and can easily travel in your drone bag to the flight location. But as i said, you'd be surprised how limited the use is for the standard drone operating distances, heights and locations.
(Personally, i'd much rather a device to alert me to other DRONES. In busy areas ive seen a few near misses).
|
|