ADS-B Receiver

[MGS]

So what is it like?
The integration of an ADS-B receiver seems like a natural progression with respect to commercial UAV applications.
It seems like it would help with the process of obtaining a COA/COW.
I'd love to hear about peoples experiences, thoughts, what evers...

Jerry

 

[pcdiii]

It's fantastic for aircraft with ADS-B becons.
It warns in 3 stages from a white color icon to yellow to red. It actually displays the position of the aircraft that is approaching as well as your current position and the approaching aircrafts distance in km and altitude reletive to your altitude in meters. It even displays negative relative altitude of the approaching aircraft. I can't verify the data as accurate but it seems to be based on the usage and my best estimates.

It does not seem to report military or police air traffic as it shouldn't.

It also displays warnings in writing on the screen which can become very distracting when many aircraft are around and several pop up at once.

I already manage my airspace closely but this system catches the ADS-B when the aircraft is out past audible range. That really helps for planning and executing your way through air traffic.

Two thumbs up so far!

Phil

 

[MGS]

That's pretty awesome, I've been patiently waiting for someone to Youtube a demo but nothing yet.

I personally feel that it's going to be a factor in the industry, is it one of those things you try to get in front of or wait for it to be mandated?

Jerry

 

[pcdiii]

Yeah, The continued distance and altitude data clarifies what I already know by paying attention.

What's really cool?

Flying in dense Forrest while being sprayed by a hose, nipping tree branches flying in a 10' diameter tunnel of plants and have your copter stop you in almost any direction before you hit anything big enough to stop the M200. It just cuts right through small tree limbs.

I was flying through a hallway in a VPS/sensor box on all sides except forward and back.

The M200 wouldn't allow me to run into anything. So it can fly down a tube, tunnel, large skyscraper elevator shafts and stairways without hitting anything!


I believe this M series with SSD would be the best solution currently available for restrictive especially windy unstable filming environments.

The airframe protects the camera and the planform's inherent stability advantages make it sit all alone. Oh and it can carry 10lbs around 4.5kg with ease along side a Z30 or X5s.

What a cool life saving device!

 

[RNCTX]

Bumping this a bit since I'm doing drone research, but am a fixed wing airplane pilot and have installed and owned multiple ADS-B transponders in manned aircraft.

CAVEATS

1. ADS-B uses two frequencies, 978mhz below 18,000 and 1090 mhz above. The only way to get a 'complete' traffic picture is to get 978mhz from a ground station, which is sketchy at the moment due to ADS-B config on the FAA's end (you must be broadcasting to receive, otherwise the towers 'sleep' if there are no ADS-B transponders in their sector
2. You will only get ADS-B equipped aircraft on 1090 mhz without a ground relay signal, and that is not all of them by any means. As you mentioned above, the deadline to equip is not until 2020.
3. The reason that it isn't picking up military traffic is because the military has not equipped anything with ADS-B in all likelihood. They are bad about refusing to play by the FAA's rules, they did the same thing on RVSM altimeters for flying at jet altitudes (they simply refused to equip it and flew them lower).

ADS-B is great in an airplane for traffic, but no airplane should be flying below 500 feet away from an airport except in case of an emergency (with the exception of things like J3 Cubs puttering around without any sort of electronics in them at all). In short, if you are flying your drone in class G airspace as you're supposed to, you're going to be hard pressed to find an airplane to run into if you are legally far enough away from an airport to be flying the drone. If you do find one, it should be bright yellow, slow, and easy to see (google a J3 Cub ).

All of this of course does not account for helicopters, those are the bigger threat to drones in my opinion and vice versa. But ADS-B isn't going to protect you from hitting one without some form of TCAS, which is a whole other layer of complexity. (TCAS is an on-board radar that finds traffic on its own, and won't let you hit it. If you get into a possible collision scenario TCAS seizes control of the airplane from the pilot via the autopilot and maneuvers to avoid the collision on its own. This is far away from drone technology for obvious reasons.)

If anyone else has any ADS-B or airplane traffic questions, feel free. I'll have lots of drone questions shortly.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Bumping this a bit since I'm doing drone research, but am a fixed wing airplane pilot and have installed and owned multiple ADS-B transponders in manned aircraft.

CAVEATS

1. ADS-B uses two frequencies, 978mhz below 18,000 and 1090 mhz above. The only way to get a 'complete' traffic picture is to get 978mhz from a ground station, which is sketchy at the moment due to ADS-B config on the FAA's end (you must be broadcasting to receive, otherwise the towers 'sleep' if there are no ADS-B transponders in their sector
2. You will only get ADS-B equipped aircraft on 1090 mhz without a ground relay signal, and that is not all of them by any means. As you mentioned above, the deadline to equip is not until 2020.
3. The reason that it isn't picking up military traffic is because the military has not equipped anything with ADS-B in all likelihood. They are bad about refusing to play by the FAA's rules, they did the same thing on RVSM altimeters for flying at jet altitudes (they simply refused to equip it and flew them lower).

ADS-B is great in an airplane for traffic, but no airplane should be flying below 500 feet away from an airport except in case of an emergency (with the exception of things like J3 Cubs puttering around without any sort of electronics in them at all). In short, if you are flying your drone in class G airspace as you're supposed to, you're going to be hard pressed to find an airplane to run into if you are legally far enough away from an airport to be flying the drone. If you do find one, it should be bright yellow, slow, and easy to see (google a J3 Cub ).

All of this of course does not account for helicopters, those are the bigger threat to drones in my opinion and vice versa. But ADS-B isn't going to protect you from hitting one without some form of TCAS, which is a whole other layer of complexity. (TCAS is an on-board radar that finds traffic on its own, and won't let you hit it. If you get into a possible collision scenario TCAS seizes control of the airplane from the pilot via the autopilot and maneuvers to avoid the collision on its own. This is far away from drone technology for obvious reasons.)

If anyone else has any ADS-B or airplane traffic questions, feel free. I'll have lots of drone questions shortly.

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum. Ask away when you are ready.

 

[UgashikBob]

RNCTX:
Since the M200 ADS-B is receive only does that limit all identification to the 1090mhz band above 18000? Does the FAA have any plans that will accommodate a receive only setup like the M200? Seems pointless without a change.

 

[RNCTX]

RNCTX:
Since the M200 ADS-B is receive only does that limit all identification to the 1090mhz band above 18000? Does the FAA have any plans that will accommodate a receive only setup like the M200? Seems pointless without a change.

1) Yes, and practically I don't know of any manned aircraft ADS-B out transponders that are using 978mhz. If there are any (perhaps for helicopter only?) they are rare. You can output on either frequency below 18,000, and must use 1090 above.

2) There are two testing grounds that I know of, and that's one of the goals of drone testing... to include them in some sort of air traffic control system. That's a required hurdle, per the FAA, for flight beyond line of sight.

You can rest assured that any participants in that testing program are there solely for economic reasons and the prospect of having a monopoly on drone flight. The FAA likes to make deal with 'corporate donors' so to speak, and exclude all others.

 

[UgashikBob]

I've seen several posts where the M200 reported inbound aircraft before the user heard them. Seems like the odds were very small that the reported aircraft were below 18K. Given what seems to be the practical implementation of this feature I don't see why DJI included it unless there are ADS-B implementations in other countries that are different.

 

[ukaleq]

Bumping this a bit since I'm doing drone research, but am a fixed wing airplane pilot and have installed and owned multiple ADS-B transponders in manned aircraft.

CAVEATS

1. ADS-B uses two frequencies, 978mhz below 18,000 and 1090 mhz above. The only way to get a 'complete' traffic picture is to get 978mhz from a ground station, which is sketchy at the moment due to ADS-B config on the FAA's end (you must be broadcasting to receive, otherwise the towers 'sleep' if there are no ADS-B transponders in their sector
2. You will only get ADS-B equipped aircraft on 1090 mhz without a ground relay signal, and that is not all of them by any means. As you mentioned above, the deadline to equip is not until 2020.
3. The reason that it isn't picking up military traffic is because the military has not equipped anything with ADS-B in all likelihood. They are bad about refusing to play by the FAA's rules, they did the same thing on RVSM altimeters for flying at jet altitudes (they simply refused to equip it and flew them lower).

ADS-B is great in an airplane for traffic, but no airplane should be flying below 500 feet away from an airport except in case of an emergency (with the exception of things like J3 Cubs puttering around without any sort of electronics in them at all). In short, if you are flying your drone in class G airspace as you're supposed to, you're going to be hard pressed to find an airplane to run into if you are legally far enough away from an airport to be flying the drone. If you do find one, it should be bright yellow, slow, and easy to see (google a J3 Cub ).

All of this of course does not account for helicopters, those are the bigger threat to drones in my opinion and vice versa. But ADS-B isn't going to protect you from hitting one without some form of TCAS, which is a whole other layer of complexity. (TCAS is an on-board radar that finds traffic on its own, and won't let you hit it. If you get into a possible collision scenario TCAS seizes control of the airplane from the pilot via the autopilot and maneuvers to avoid the collision on its own. This is far away from drone technology for obvious reasons.)

If anyone else has any ADS-B or airplane traffic questions, feel free. I'll have lots of drone questions shortly.

But aren't helicopters supposed to be equipped with ADS-B too in the medium to short term?

 

[boefinator]

But aren't helicopters supposed to be equipped with ADS-B too in the medium to short term?

Everyone in a Mode C veil will have to be ADS-B compliant by 2020. So depends on where you are. We routinely get the traffic inbound to LAX and ONT, but I have yet to see any Airsense alerts that have been useful. YMMV

 

[Lapeer20m]

In my experience, matrice adsb ignores high flying aircraft (above 10k feet?) and only reports aircraft that are realatively close. I fly matrice most often within 3 miles of a non-towered airport and Often encounter low flying aircraft (below 1,000 feet) Occasionally I see a helicopter or small plane that appears to be less than 400’ agl.

I like airsense but not all aircraft are currently using ads b.....including the coast guard.

As a general rule, we try to fly below 200 feet agl. There is a 185’ tower in our backyard, which adds a margin of safety to our training operations.