User:MartinX/OpenSky Network

The OpenSky Network is a non-profit association based in Switzerland. It was set up as a research project by several universities and government entities with the goal to improve the security, reliability and efficiency of the airspace. Its main function is to collect, process and store air traffic control data and provide open access to this data to the public. Similar to many existing flight trackers such as Flightradar24 and FlightAware, the OpenSky Network consists of a multitude of sensors (currently around 750, mostly concentrated in Europe and the US), which are connected to the Internet by volunteers, industrial supporters, academic, and governmental organizations. All collected raw data is archived in a large historical database, currently containing over 3.5 trillion air traffic control messages. The database is primarily used by researchers from different areas to analyze and improve air traffic control technologies and processes.

The main air traffic control communication technologies currently used by the OpenSky Network are the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Mode S. Both technologies provide immediate and detailed aircraft information over the publicly accessible 1090 MHz radio frequency channel using software-defined radio receivers.

Aircraft Tracking Data
Currently, the network tracks and displays several thousand flights at any given time. The OpenSky Network offers access to its data through a variety of means, including several APIs and an Impala shell. Data from the OpenSky Network is free for research done in academic and governmental institutions. Commercial licenses are also available, as are branded software-defined receiver kits. However, despite its growth, a comparison found that it has still significantly less coverage than both FlightAware and Flightradar24 in February 2017.

History
The OpenSky Network started in 2012 as a research project between armasuisse (Switzerland), University of Kaiserslautern (Germany), and the University of Oxford (UK). In 2015, the OpenSky Network association was founded to guarantee the continuous development of the network towards a completely open air traffic control sensor network with worldwide coverage. By the end of 2017, data from the OpenSky Network has been used in at least 20 academic publications.