Update: ADSBSharp (ADSB#) is no longer available and has been deprecated.  Copies can be found by doing some searching.  It is not available from the authors site as described in this post for the RTL-SDR. A program like RTL1090 or Dump1090 (or any of its forks) can be substituted.  The author is focusing on AirSpy devices and ADSBSpy is available from the same site as SDR#.

An interesting project I came across using the RTL-SDR dongle is to decode ADS-B data.  ADS-B stands for Automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast allowing aircraft to be tracked by ground stations and provide situational awareness to nearby aircraft.  It is part of the FAA’s NextGen project and mandated by agencies across the globe.  ADS-B uses a frequency of 1090 MHz.

Thanks goes out to Robert Nickels – W9RAN and his article in the January 2014 edition of QST which covers this project and how to make a Collinear Array for 1090.  HAK5 also did a couple episodes showing how to make an antenna and configure Virtual Radar Server.

Program versions

I used a Windows 7 64 bit PC.  Applications and versions used in this writeup…

SDRSharp: 1.0.0.1330
ADSBSharp: 1.0.11.1
Zadig: 2.1.0.658
Virtual Radar Server: 2.0.2
SBS Resources: 6.7

Parts list

Listed below are all the parts needed to get this project working.

Antenna with receive coverage of 1090 MHz.
RTL-SDR dongle.

I had a ham radio antenna that I used.  It is the MP Antenna 08-ANT-0860 Ultra Mobile Antenna if you’re interested.  To build an antenna, see the QST article above.  The one that comes with the dongle will work but at short range.