Aircraft Position
The Aircraft Position object specifies the physical location of an aircraft that is seen by our network. The same object is used independently of the source of the data, making it possible to receive information from multiple sources, like ground- and satellite-based ADS-B, ADS-C, Eurocontrol and FAA, all in one consistent format.
The Aircraft Position object is broken down into a part with information about the Aircraft, and a child object with the Position information.
Property
Type
Description
icao24
String
The ICAO 24bit address of the transponder in hexadecimal format.
registration
String, null
The aircraft registration marks, as commonly displayed in the country of registration. For example G-AVIO
, or N372AW
.
A value of null
indicates that the information is not available.
blocked
Boolean
The Position object
The Position object contains information on an individual position tracked by our network.
Property
Type
Description
baroAltitude
Number, null
The barometric altitude as reported by the aircraft's transponder, in metres.
null
indicates that this information is not available, or that the aircraft is on the ground, when onGround
is true
.
verticalRate
Number, null
The rate of climb/descent as reported by the aircraft's transponder, in metres per second. This can be negative, which indicates a
null
indicates that this information is not available.
groundSpeed
Number, null
The ground speed as reported by the aircraft's navigation system, in metres per second.
null
indicates that this information is not available.
course
Number, null
The True Course as reported by the aircraft's navigation system, in degrees (0
to 359
).
null
indicates that this information is not available.
Be aware that this information is only reliable when the aircraft is moving.
coordinates
Object
observed
String
The UTC time at which this position was received by us. This is usually just a few milliseconds after the aircraft transmits the information.
Time is formatted in ISO format.
onGround
Boolean
Indicates if the transponder is transmitting that the aircraft is on the ground. This parameter works differently for different types of aircraft avionics. In some aircraft it is commanded by a pressure switch on the main landing gear, in others it is derived by the avionics' software. Not all transponders offer this information.
null
indicates that this information is not available, because it either was not provided by the aircraft or it was not possible to reliably derive.
technology
String
The source of the position report. Possible values are:
ADSB
: for positions by a Mode S or ADS-B transponder, using a 24-bit ICAO address, and received by a ground receiver.ADSB_SAT
: for positions by an ADS-B transponder, using a 24-bit ICAO address, and received by satellite.ADSC
: for a position received monitoring the ADS-C satellite downlinkMLAT
: for a Multilateration position, calculated by arrival time differences using multiple receivers, outliers and varying accuracy is expectedMODE_S
: for ModeS data from the plane's transponder (no position transmitted)ADSB_NT
: for positions from an ADS-B equipped “non-transponder” emitter e.g. a ground vehicle, using a 24-bit ICAO address, and received by a ground receiver.ADSB_REBROADCAST
: for rebroadcast of ADS-B messages originally sent via another data link e.g. UAT, using a 24-bit ICAO addressTISB
: for traffic information about a non-ADS-B target identified by a 24-bit ICAO address, e.g. a Mode S target tracked by secondary radarADSB_OTHER
: for positions from an ADS-B transponder using a non-ICAO address, e.g. anonymized addresses issued by the FAA.ADSR_OTHER
: for rebroadcast of ADS-B messages originally sent via another data link e.g. UAT, using a non-ICAO addressTISB_OTHER
: for traffic information about a non-ADS-B target using a non-ICAO addressTISB_TRACKFILE
: for traffic information about a non-ADS-B target using a track/file identifier, typically from primary or Mode A/C radarOTHER
: miscellaneous data received via Basestation receivers or in SBS format. Quality and source is generally unknown.
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