AirSense vs Flightradar24

[gnirtS]

AirSense will display only display ADS-B equipped aircraft, but FR24 also shows Aircraft with the MLAT System - not sure what the difference is to ADS-B, but I doubt that Airsense can detect those planes. Just took this screenshot from FR24:

View attachment 102406

For us in Europe it's even worse: by mid of this year only aircrafts > 5.7t of weight and Vmax > 250 knots are supposed to have ADS-B. So most of small aircrafts I spotted here use MLAT (however this works in comparison to ADS-B).

MLAT is going to be significantly less reliable and accurate than ADS-B.

Its a differential time of arrival calculation for aircraft that do not have ADSB. So a crude triangulation.
FR24 state for even basic MLAT calculations it needs to be in range of at least 4 receivers with a nicely space geometry. At high altitude in lots of places this is possible. At lower altitudes its extremely unlikely.
Its quite common to see an MLAT aircraft jump around by a few miles in seconds due to this. Outside major areas with a lot of coverage you cant really use it for anything.

FR24 also state 1km accuracy for some MLAT, degrading significantly if the aircraft is turning. Theres also a processing lag in displaying them.

Things like Planeplotter use MLAT and its useful for military aircraft, police helicopters, SAR and so on at times but is very patchy. You can track AirForce 1 on it for example in europe when it turns ADS-B off.
Lots of those aircraft are on FR24s opt-out blacklist so wouldnt appear on fr24 even if they did have the transponder on.

But for low level aircraft avoiding a drone, forget MLAT. Not useful at all.

 

[swooshdave]

Commercial aircraft are the least threat to a drone. They dont hang around at 400ft or lower and only do so for a few seconds during a takeoff or landing.

Its GA/military/SAR and so on that are likely to be operating low level for significant time and cause a hazard. But a lot of those will not have ADSB

I had a Blackhawk buzz me. They has their ADS-B on but I suspect because it's a busy airspace.

 

[gnirtS]

I had a Blackhawk buzz me. They has their ADS-B on but I suspect because it's a busy airspace.

In the US certain classes of airspace require it(and its common sense in congested areas). But that doesnt mean they all will everywhere. Even with ADS-B most military wont show on FR24 as they've opted out anyway.
So yes it'll display some things but not all so cant be relied on to ensure the area is clear.

 

[swoermck]

MLAT is triangulation of Mode S signals.

And I guess the Mavic Air 2 with AirSense won't be able to "sense" those planes?

 

[gnirtS]

And I guess the Mavic Air 2 with AirSense won't be able to "sense" those planes?

Correct.It cant. (Because you'd need at least 4 MAs spaced apart all connected with a datalink and accurate clocks)...

 

[ninja_geezer]

This is far superior to the flight radar 24 ,i live in a high density of military aircraft and if they are trans ponding this picks them up where the flight radar 24 misses a lot of civy and military ,also a lot of lag ive noticed when doing side by side comparisons.
ADS-B Exchange - tracking thousands of aircraft

 

[cgmaxed]

Both use ADS-B but obviously AirSense is more limited. What is the actual range of ADS-B and how exactly does Flightradar24 work?

The reason I ask is that I will get warnings on AirSense and then go check Flightradar24 and not see anything. Conversely I will see planes on Flightradar24 but they don't show up on AirSense. I'm aware the AirSense has different filters as to what to display and different range but I'm taking about planes I can see or hear that won't display.

Thoughts?

I upgraded my FlightRadar24 app. Anyway. I have ADS-B and Use the FlightRadar24 app as well. Most of the time I find Flight Radar to be more accurate and alerts me to more aircraft. I live near 2 airports. A public one is much closer. Most aircraft need to be transmitting their data in my area so I don't notice inconsistencies between the ADS-B and Flightradar app. I actually like keeping my Tablet with flight radar next to me and check it when my ADS_B alerts occur. Through flight radar I can tell the ac's path speed and altitude and type. By knowing its altitude and heading relative to my drone's position (which I can see exactly when comparing the RC map and FR map), I know i do or don't have to worry about anything. Using them together is just an added layer of safety and less worry for me. I'm lucky that most aircraft are required to transmit in my area. Except those "pesky" police helicopters and some other types of aircraft. I still have to keep looking skyward.

 

[cgmaxed]

Commercial aircraft are the least threat to a drone. They dont hang around at 400ft or lower and only do so for a few seconds during a takeoff or landing.

Its GA/military/SAR and so on that are likely to be operating low level for significant time and cause a hazard. But a lot of those will not have ADSB

Exactly

 

[cgmaxed]

I bought a MA2 with ADS-B. However, i dont see any option in the menu that refers to it. I saw some YT videos where there is an option to enable and disable. It isn’t available on mine. Wondering what that’s about!

From where did you buy your MA2. Only the ones sold in the U.S.A. are equipped with it. Most in the UK and other european countries don't have it.

 

[cgmaxed]

Flightradar24 has been absolutely accurate for me. I live 15 miles from a major airport and every time a plane flies by it’s on flightradar24.

Same here. I like it so much I paid to upgrade it.

 

[ninja_geezer]

From where did you buy your MA2. Only the ones sold in the U.S.A. are equipped with it. Most in the UK and other european countries don't have it.

Most do have it in the UK its just the fly app has it disabled in the UK. i used to use a great modded app by GB160 to enable this in the UK.

 

[cgmaxed]

Most do have it in the UK its just the fly app has it disabled in the UK. i used to use a great modded app by GB160 to enable this in the UK.

Didn't know that. It's just that all the threads had been saying DJI limited its install to a certain number and or geographic area of MA2 drones

 

[ninja_geezer]

Didn't know that. It's just that all the threads had been saying DJI limited its install to a certain number and or geographic area of MA2 drones

Yes apparently what happened was the very early Ma2 in the UK and the rest of Europe where missing the ADS-B chip this was soon added to the later models .3w (supply issues covid) i believe the model need to be able to utilise the Airsense feature with a modded app.

 

[Tadass910]

Yes apparently what happened was the very early Ma2 in the UK and the rest of Europe where missing the ADS-B chip this was soon added to the later models .3w (supply issues covid) i believe the model need to be able to utilise the Airsense feature with a modded app.

Nice, moded app enables air sense on ma2 and official DJI app disables it, come on DJI u did it stupidly

 

[ninja_geezer]

Nice, moded app enables air sense on ma2 and official DJI app disables it, come on DJI u did it stupidly

yep most definitely