Aircraft Tracking with Public Cameras and ADS-B Flight Data
Combine public cameras with ADS-B flight data to track and identify aircraft. Camera pose estimation maps pixel to world coordinates; ADS-B provides identity/position. RTL-SDR receivers cost ~$25.
Aircraft tracking can be accomplished by combining public camera streams with real-time ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) flight position data. Camera pose estimation: Camera position, angle, and height can be determined from visual cues in the image — known landmark positions, horizon line, vanishing points. This allows mapping pixel coordinates to real-world coordinates. ADS-B data: Aircraft broadcast their position, altitude, speed, and identification continuously. This data is publicly accessible via services like FlightRadar24, ADS-B Exchange, and OpenSky Network. ADS-B receivers can also be built with a ~$25 RTL-SDR dongle and free software. Correlation: By mapping ADS-B positions onto camera views using the estimated camera pose, individual aircraft in the camera feed can be matched to their flight data — enabling identification, altitude determination, and tracking of specific flights from a fixed camera position.