How Flightradar24 gets flight information data?
Flightradar24 doesn’t just pull data from airline websites — it actually receives live information directly from the aircraft in the sky. To build its live map, it relies on a mix of crowdsourced radio receivers, satellites, and complex math. Here is a breakdown of exactly where that data comes from.
The Main Source: ADS-B
The vast majority of tracking data on Flightradar24 comes from a technology called ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast).
- Getting the Location: The aircraft determines its exact location using GPS satellites.
- Broadcasting the Data: The plane’s onboard ADS-B transponder continuously broadcasts this location, along with its altitude, speed, heading, and unique identification code, over an unencrypted radio frequency (1090 MHz).
- Receiving the Signal: Down on the ground, a network of more than 50,000 ADS-B receivers picks up these signals. Interestingly, most of these receivers are hosted by aviation enthusiasts and volunteers who set up simple antennas on their roofs and feed the data directly to Flightradar24’s servers.
Tracking Older Planes: MLAT
Not all aircraft, especially older or military ones, have modern ADS-B transponders. Many use older Mode S transponders that ping their identity but not their GPS location.
To track these planes, Flightradar24 uses Multilateration (MLAT).
- When a plane sends out a simple ping, multiple ground receivers pick it up.
- Because radio waves travel at a constant speed, the signal will hit each receiver at a slightly different fraction of a millisecond.
- By measuring the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) at four or more different receiver locations, Flightradar24’s servers can mathematically triangulate the plane’s exact position, speed, and direction.
Filling the Gaps: Satellites and Radar
Ground-based receivers have a range of about 150 to 250 miles and require a line of sight, meaning they can’t track planes flying over the middle of the ocean. To fix this, Flightradar24 uses additional data sources:
- Satellite ADS-B: Satellites in orbit equipped with ADS-B receivers pick up the same signals planes broadcast to the ground and relay them back down, providing coverage over oceans and remote areas.
- Live Radar: Flightradar24 also receives direct feeds of traditional radar data for airspace in North America and Australia.
Making the Data Make Sense
If Flightradar24 just displayed the raw data, you’d only see a map of dots with cryptic transponder codes. To make it useful, they instantly cross-reference the raw signal data with several massive databases. They merge the live pings with commercial flight schedules, airline route data, and aircraft registration databases so that when you tap on a plane, you see the flight number, the airline, the departure and arrival airports, and even the plane’s specific model and age.