Implementation of a low-cost SSR/ADS-B aircraft receiver decoder (SY-100)

For many aviation research and development programs it is necessary to acquire accurate aircraft position and identification information. Many previous analyses in terminal areas have used radar surveillance data recorded from terminal radar systems. These analyses have required conversion and post processing of radar tapes from air traffic control. Problems with this type of analysis include a low data update rate (once per 4.8 seconds in the terminal area), sufficient coverage at low levels (below the radar cut-off), data latency (it can be up to 2 seconds old), and the intensive task of manually sorting and parsing data from the tapes. To assist with several research and development programs Rannoch has developed and implemented a real time stand alone radar receiver decoder system. The system decodes all radar data on the 1090 MHz and 1030 MHz (downlink and uplink) including Mode S, TCAS, ATCRBS, ADS-B, and IFF. In a typical terminal area the system decodes real time aircraft radar data at up to 10 Hz from each aircraft. This paper describes the application of the system to assist with several Air Traffic Control (ATC) research programs including wake vortex research. The equipment set up and integration with a wake vortex sensor suite is described and results are presented from field trials at JFK International Airport