How Do Flight Tracking Sites Work? The Tech, the Truth, and the Safety

Flight tracking websites run on a system referred to as Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast, or ADS-B. All the latest planes have an ADS-B transponder, which transmits significant flight data. This contains the present position, altitude, speed, heading and the identification number of the aircraft.
In contrast to the typical radar, the ADS-B does not require ground-based radar to determine the position of an aircraft. Rather, it is the plane that informs the world on its position based on the GPS signals. These signals are broadcasted per second and they may be detected by the chain of ground-based transmitters, satellites, or other airborne transport.

Data Collection: Crowd-Sourcing and Global Network: A Global Network

Flight tracking technologies are based on thousands of ADS-B ground receivers which are distributed worldwide. Some are placed by people interested in aviation, others by the companies tracking them themselves. These receivers collect the broadcast data of the aircraft and transmit data to the central servers where the data is processed and is put in a map.
Satellites with ADS-B sensors make up the gap when a plane is flying over the remote ocean or the territory that has no ground receivers. The data obtained through satellites is characterised by limited delay and accuracy penalty, but nearly absolute coverage.

Other Data Sources

Other sources are also tapped by the flight tracking websites:
FAA and Eurocontrol Feeds: These have filed flight plans, Gate assignments and real time air traffic control data.
MLAT (Multilateration): Older aircraft not fitted with ADS-B can be positioned by several receivers that triangulate position on differences in time delays.
ACARS and Radar: In other scenarios, aircraft share communication with the short digital messages or legacy radars.

Is Sharing this Data Safeguarded?

Others fear that real time flight tracking may be an endangerment to security. However, the aviation authorities such as the FAA permit publication of this information. Some military flights, government flights or private flights might decide to block or reduce their visibility due to security concerns. The majority of tracking sites take into consideration such requests.

Final Thoughts

The vitality of the flight tracking websites is driven by the most advanced technology and enabled by the dedicated community. At that, they offer a high degree of transparency in aviation, so users can track flights anywhere in the world by a couple of clicks. There is the complex web of satellites, GPS, radio signals and data science that goes behind what seems to be a simple map that aids in our navigation of the sky.

Smarter logistics starts with following us.