SkySpy is an enterprise-grade, real-time ADS-B aircraft tracking and monitoring platform built for enthusiasts, researchers, and aviation professionals.
🎯 What is SkySpy?
SkySpy captures position data from 1090MHz Mode S and 978MHz UAT receivers, displays aircraft on an interactive map, monitors safety conditions, and provides advanced features like custom alerts, weather integration, ACARS message decoding, and push notifications.
📘
Deployment Flexibility
SkySpy is designed to run on hardware ranging from Raspberry Pi edge devices to enterprise server infrastructure, with configuration profiles optimized for each deployment scenario.
✨ Key Capabilities
Capability
Description
Status
📍 Real-Time Tracking
Sub-second aircraft position updates with distance, altitude, speed, and climb rate calculations
✅
🖥️ Interactive Dashboard
Canvas-based radar display with multiple visualization modes including CRT phosphor effects
Socket.IO provides real-time data streaming via namespaces:
Namespace
Purpose
Description
🛩️ /aircraft
Aircraft Updates
Real-time position streaming
🚨 /safety
Safety Events
Emergency and TCAS notifications
🔔 /alerts
Alert Triggers
Custom rule match notifications
📻 /acars
ACARS Stream
Decoded message feed
📊 /stats
Statistics
Live metrics updates
📱 /cannonball
Mobile Mode
GPS-based threat detection
5️⃣ Celery Task System
Background task processing with priority queues:
Queue
Tasks
Priority
polling
Aircraft polling, stats updates
🔴 High (time-sensitive)
default
General background tasks
🟡 Normal
database
DB operations, cleanup
🟡 Normal
notifications
Push notification delivery
🟡 Normal
transcription
Audio transcription
🔵 Low
low_priority
Analytics, aggregation
🔵 Low
🔄 Data Flow
📡 ADS-B Data Ingestion
flowchart TD
A["📡 ADS-B Receiver<br/>(Ultrafeeder)"] --> B["🔗 JSON API Endpoint<br/>/tar1090/data/aircraft.json"]
B --> C["⚙️ Celery Task<br/>poll_aircraft"]
C --> D["⚡ Update Redis Cache<br/>(live aircraft state)"]
C --> E["📢 Broadcast via<br/>Socket.IO"]
C --> F["💾 Store to PostgreSQL<br/>(periodic snapshots)"]
D --> G["👥 Connected Clients"]
E --> G
subgraph clients["📱 Clients"]
G1["⚛️ Web Dashboard<br/>(React)"]
G2["🖥️ CLI Client<br/>(Go)"]
G3["📱 Mobile Apps"]
end
G --> clients
🚨 Safety Event Detection
flowchart TD
A["✈️ Aircraft Position Update"] --> B["🔍 Safety Monitoring Service"]
B --> C{"🚨 Check Emergency<br/>Squawks 7500/7600/7700"}
B --> D{"📐 Calculate Proximity<br/>to Other Aircraft"}
B --> E{"📈 Analyze Vertical<br/>Speed Changes"}
B --> F{"⚠️ Detect TCAS<br/>Alerts"}
C --> G{"Event Detected?"}
D --> G
E --> G
F --> G
G -->|Yes| H["💾 Create SafetyEvent Record"]
H --> I["📢 Broadcast via Socket.IO"]
I --> J["🔔 Trigger Notifications<br/>(if configured)"]
🔔 Alert Rule Processing
flowchart TD
A["✈️ Aircraft Update Received"] --> B["📋 Alert Rule Cache<br/>(Redis)"]
B --> C["🔄 Evaluate Each Active Rule"]
C --> D["🔀 Parse AND/OR Conditions"]
D --> E["✅ Check Field Values<br/>Against Thresholds"]
E --> F["⏱️ Apply Cooldown Logic"]
F --> G{"Rule Matches?"}
G -->|Yes| H["💾 Create AlertHistory Record"]
H --> I["📤 Dispatch Notifications"]
I --> J["📢 Broadcast via Socket.IO"]
🌟 Key Features Summary
✈️ Aircraft Tracking
📍 Real-time position updates from 1090MHz and 978MHz receivers
🔌 Support for multiple receiver sources (Ultrafeeder, dump978)
📐 Distance and bearing calculation from receiver location
⏱️ Session management with first/last seen timestamps
🏷️ Aircraft type classification (commercial, military, private, etc.)
🖥️ Interactive Dashboard
🗺️ Canvas-based map with multiple rendering modes
📟 CRT radar mode with sweep animation
📋 Aircraft detail panels with registration, operator, and photo
