Receive ADS-B signals from commercial aircraft to detect and log air traffic over oceanic and remote regions where ground radar has gaps. Generate aircraft detection heat maps and downlink compressed position reports.
Receive ADS-B signals from commercial aircraft to detect and log air traffic over oceanic and remote regions where ground radar has gaps. Generate aircraft detection heat maps and downlink compressed position reports.
This is a intermediate-level project with an estimated timeline of 14-18 months using a 0.5U form factor.
Commercial aviation relies on ground-based radar to track aircraft, but radar coverage ends at coastlines. Over oceans, polar regions, and remote terrain, aircraft positions are estimated rather than observed. Space-based ADS-B changes this by receiving aircraft transponder broadcasts from orbit, providing continuous global coverage where ground infrastructure cannot reach. Each aircraft broadcasts its identity, position, altitude, speed, and heading multiple times per second all on a frequency well-suited to reception from a small satellite without requiring deployable antennas. The payload listens continuously, decodes position reports, compresses them, and downlinks batches to the ground station. Students build the data pipeline to parse reports, plot aircraft tracks on a map, and generate heat maps showing traffic density over oceanic routes. The commercial precedent is strong a major constellation already provides global ADS-B coverage to air traffic control authorities. A student version demonstrates the same capability at a fraction of the scale, with the educational benefit of working through real RF reception, signal decoding, data management, and geospatial visualization challenges.
SkyFox Labs piADSB-NG flight model (~4,850 / ~$5,300) is a self-contained ADS-B receiver at 1090 MHz with embedded antenna array no deployables needed. Fits within 0.3U, draws under 1W, interfaces at 3.3V via serial UART. Handles all decoding internally, outputs ASCII messages. Students design interface PCB (UART-to-I2C bridge or direct UART to PyCubed), data compression firmware, mechanical integration bracket (CAD + 3D print prototype, Al-6061 flight), and EMI shielding. Ground pipeline: Python script to parse ADS-B messages and generate aircraft detection heat maps over ocean regions.
Space-based ADS-B (1090 MHz) is far more practical at 0.5U than AIS (162 MHz) because shorter wavelength eliminates need for deployable antennas. Shanghai Jiao Tong STU-2C (2015) demonstrated ADS-B from 2U CubeSat. piADSB-NG is turnkey all decoding internal, UART output. Primary risk: EMI from satellite bus desensitizing receiver careful layout and shielding critical. ADS-B is the recommended variant over AIS for student teams. Total cost including module: ~$5,600-$6,000. Complexity: medium. Strong commercial relevance Aireon (Iridium NEXT) operates global ADS-B constellation for aviation authorities. Tier 2 recommendation feasible with turnkey module, higher budget required.
This project spans 2 disciplines, making it suitable for interdisciplinary student teams.
Ready to take on this project? Here's a general roadmap that applies to most CubeSat missions:
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