Live ADS-B aircraft feed from a local dump1090-fa station, normalized into the shared Aircraft type and emitted as aircraft:new / aircraft:update / aircraft:lost events. Three sources are provided against the same station: polling its aircraft.json HTTP output, a persistent connection to its SBS/BaseStation output, or a persistent connection to its raw Beast binary output.

Documentation

Part of the @squawk aviation library suite. See all packages on npm.

Installation

npm install @squawk/adsb-feed

Usage

JSON source (HTTP polling)

Polls dump1090-fa's aircraft.json endpoint on an interval. Works in both Node and the browser (subject to CORS - see below).

import { createJsonAircraftFeed } from '@squawk/adsb-feed';

const feed = createJsonAircraftFeed({
  url: 'http://192.168.1.50:8080/data/aircraft.json',
});

feed.addEventListener('aircraft:new', (event) => {
  console.log((event as CustomEvent).detail.aircraft);
});
feed.addEventListener('aircraft:lost', (event) => {
  console.log('lost', (event as CustomEvent).detail.icaoHex);
});

feed.start();
// later: feed.stop();

SBS source (persistent socket)

Connects to dump1090-fa's SBS/BaseStation TCP output. Lower latency than polling - a new line arrives the instant dump1090-fa decodes a message, rather than waiting for the next snapshot. Node-only; reconnects automatically if the connection drops.

import { createSbsAircraftFeed } from '@squawk/adsb-feed';

const feed = createSbsAircraftFeed({ host: '192.168.1.50' }); // port defaults to 30003

feed.addEventListener('aircraft:update', (event) => {
  console.log((event as CustomEvent).detail.aircraft);
});

feed.start();

Beast source (raw binary stream)

Connects to dump1090-fa's Beast binary output (default port 30005) and decodes the raw Mode-S/ADS-B messages itself via @squawk/beast/@squawk/mode-s - unlike the JSON and SBS sources, dump1090-fa has not done any decode work on this output. Node-only; reconnects automatically if the connection drops.

import { createBeastAircraftFeed } from '@squawk/adsb-feed';

const feed = createBeastAircraftFeed({ host: '192.168.1.50' }); // port defaults to 30005

feed.addEventListener('aircraft:update', (event) => {
  console.log((event as CustomEvent).detail.aircraft);
});

feed.start();

Beast frames carry raw CPR-encoded positions rather than decoded coordinates. An airborne position resolves on its own once a paired even/odd frame has arrived (typically within a couple of seconds), but on-ground/surface position messages can only be decoded against a known-nearby reference position - there is no pair-only path for surface CPR. Pass receiverPosition (your station's own lat/lon) to enable surface position decoding and to speed up a new aircraft's first airborne fix; without it, surface aircraft are still tracked (squawk, callsign, ground speed, etc.) but carry no position:

const feed = createBeastAircraftFeed({
  host: '192.168.1.50',
  receiverPosition: { lat: 40.6413, lon: -73.7781 },
});

DF0/4/5/16/20/21 replies (ACAS/TCAS and Mode-S surveillance replies) carry an ICAO address recovered from a CRC-XOR rather than a direct field, so this source only accepts them for aircraft already known from a squitter - an unmatched candidate address is dropped rather than risking a phantom or misattributed aircraft. Mode A/C replies are also dropped; they carry no ICAO address at all.

All three factories return the same AircraftFeed shape, so switching sources for a given consumer is a one-line change - getAircraft, getAllAircraft, getPositionHistory, and the event names are identical either way.

Browser / SPA usage

Import createJsonAircraftFeed from the /browser subpath. createSbsAircraftFeed and createBeastAircraftFeed depend on Node's net module (raw TCP sockets have no browser API) and are not exported there.

import { createJsonAircraftFeed } from '@squawk/adsb-feed/browser';

dump1090-fa does not send CORS headers, so a browser fetching aircraft.json directly from another origin is blocked. Point url at a same-origin reverse proxy that forwards to your station - the same pattern @squawk/weather's /fetch layer documents for the Aviation Weather Center API.

API

• createJsonAircraftFeed({ url, pollIntervalMs?, fetch?, staleAfterMs?, positionHistoryRetention? }) - creates a feed backed by HTTP-polled aircraft.json.
• createSbsAircraftFeed({ host, port?, reconnectDelayMs?, staleAfterMs?, positionHistoryRetention? }) - creates a feed backed by a persistent SBS/BaseStation socket connection. Node-only.
• createBeastAircraftFeed({ host, port?, reconnectDelayMs?, receiverPosition?, staleAfterMs?, positionHistoryRetention? }) - creates a feed backed by a persistent Beast binary socket connection, decoding raw Mode-S/ADS-B messages itself. Node-only.
• feed.start() / feed.stop() - begin or end polling/connecting. stop() clears all tracked state.
• feed.getAircraft(icaoHex) / feed.getAllAircraft() - current normalized Aircraft state.
• feed.getPositionHistory(icaoHex) - retained position samples for one aircraft, oldest first.
• feed.getConnectionState() - current connection state, 'connected' | 'reconnecting'.
• Events (via addEventListener, read off CustomEvent.detail): aircraft:new and aircraft:update ({ aircraft: Aircraft }), aircraft:lost ({ icaoHex: string, lastAircraft: Aircraft }), connection:connect and connection:disconnect ({ state: 'connected' | 'reconnecting' }).

Connection state

All three sources expose the same connection lifecycle. For SBS and Beast, getConnectionState() and the connection:connect/connection:disconnect events reflect the underlying TCP socket's own connect/close lifecycle. The JSON source has no persistent connection to track, so it uses the most recent poll's outcome instead: 'connected' once a poll successfully parses, 'reconnecting' after a non-ok response or a network/parse failure.

feed.addEventListener('connection:disconnect', () => {
  console.log('lost connection, reconnecting...');
});
console.log(feed.getConnectionState()); // 'connected' | 'reconnecting'

Field population by source

Beyond the baseline fields all three sources populate, coverage differs:

• JSON additionally populates emergencyState (from aircraft.json's emergency field). It has no equivalent for identActive/squawkAlert/resolutionAdvisory/targetState - aircraft.json carries no such fields.
• SBS additionally populates identActive/squawkAlert (from the BaseStation SPI/Alert fields). It has no equivalent for emergencyState/resolutionAdvisory/targetState.
• Beast populates all of the above - emergencyState, identActive, squawkAlert, resolutionAdvisory (from either a DF16 reply or a type-code-28 subtype-2 broadcast), and targetState (from a type-code-29 message) - since it decodes the raw Mode-S/ADS-B messages itself rather than relying on dump1090-fa's own JSON/SBS summaries.

Aircraft.origin / Aircraft.destination are never populated by any source - ADS-B data carries no flight-schedule information, so resolving a live aircraft's actual origin or destination needs a data source outside this package.