DRONE & UAV AWARENESS

Drone & UAV detection, honestly explained

Most consumer drones do not carry an ADS-B transponder, so on a pure ADS-B platform "drone detection" really means two things: reading the drones that do broadcast (Remote ID and larger UAS), and flagging the low-and-slow targets that look like one. AeroScope does both — and is up-front about the difference.

Open the live map ↗Read the FAQ
Quick answer. ADS-B detects drones only partly. Larger UAS and drones over 250 g complying with FAA Remote ID broadcast identity and position — on 1090 MHz, 978 MHz UAT, or Bluetooth/Wi-Fi — and AeroScope tracks those directly. Most small consumer drones carry no transponder and are invisible to ADS-B; for those, AeroScope flags low-and-slow candidates (typically under ~1,000 ft AGL and ~100 kts) with a transparent 0–100 confidence score.
See it live

Every low, slow contact — in 3D

Drone candidates, emergency squawks and military traffic all surface in the same live instrument HUD over your position — a rotating radar dome where height is altitude, an animated altitude histogram, and a drag-to-explore situational globe with connection arcs to the contacts that matter. Rendered entirely client-side with three.js.

aeroscope.live · 3D airspace
3D radar dome plotting nearby aircraft by bearing, distance and altitude
Radar dome
3D altitude histogram of aircraft counts per altitude band
Altitude bars
Situational globe with connection arcs to notable contacts
Situational globe
Radar dome · altitude histogram · situational globe — drag to explore, within your chosen radius.
The reality

What a drone actually looks like to a receiver

Over a million drones are registered with the FAA, and the airspace risk is real — unauthorised flights near airports, prisons, critical infrastructure and crowds. But small UAS were designed to be quiet to the radio spectrum that ADS-B uses. AeroScope is precise about which drones it can see:

🟢

Broadcast directly

FAA Remote ID drones and larger commercial UAS transmit identity and position (1090 MHz, UAT 978 MHz, or Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Remote ID via a compatible receiver). These are tracked like any other aircraft.

SEEN DIRECTLY
🟡

Inferred behaviourally

Crewed aircraft flying a drone-like profile — very low, very slow, tight loiters — are scored as drone candidates. This catches anomalies but can also tag a helicopter or a Cessna doing pattern work.

HEURISTIC
🔴

Invisible to ADS-B

A silent hobby quadcopter with no transponder and no Remote ID broadcasts nothing on these frequencies. No ADS-B platform — ours included — can see it without an added RF or radar sensor.

OUT OF SCOPE
Why this honesty matters. A tool that claims to "detect all drones" from ADS-B alone is selling a fantasy. AeroScope tells you exactly what category each target falls into, so you can trust the ones it surfaces.
How the score works

A transparent 0–100 drone-candidate score

Every aircraft receives a drone-candidate score built from fields that already arrive in the ADS-B message — nothing magical. Targets above a threshold are tagged "UAV" and given a distinct pin. The factors:

SignalPushes score up when…
Altitudebelow ~1,000 ft AGL
Ground speedbelow ~100 kts
Climb / descent ratenear zero or highly erratic
Identityno registered callsign; ICAO hex in unassigned ranges
Kinematicstight loiter, abrupt heading changes, station-keeping
Mode S extended datasparse or absent

Scores above 70 are flagged HIGH, 40–70 MEDIUM, below 40 LOW. An exclusion list suppresses known low-and-slow crewed types so the panel stays useful.

Use cases

Who watches for drones with AeroScope

Facility & event security

Keep a geofenced eye on the airspace over a stadium, plant or prison and get alerted when a Remote-ID UAS or a drone-like track enters the zone.

Airfields & aeromodelling

Separate genuine drone activity from circuit traffic and gliders with the exclusion list and pattern-of-life classification.

Researchers & OSINT

Export Remote-ID and candidate tracks as CSV/GeoJSON to study UAS activity over a region with reproducible data.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can ADS-B detect drones?
Partly. Larger commercial drones and those complying with FAA Remote ID broadcast identity and position (on 1090 MHz, UAT 978 MHz, or via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Remote ID), and AeroScope tracks those directly. Most small consumer drones carry no transponder and are invisible to ADS-B; for those, AeroScope uses behavioural heuristics to flag low-and-slow candidates, and is explicit that a fully silent drone cannot be seen by ADS-B alone.
What is FAA Remote ID?
Remote ID is an FAA rule requiring most drones over 250 g to broadcast identification and location — serial or session ID, latitude, longitude, altitude, velocity, control-station location and a timestamp. AeroScope can ingest Remote ID broadcasts and correlate them with ADS-B tracks.
How does AeroScope score drone confidence?
With a transparent 0–100 score from fields already present in the message: low altitude (under ~1,000 ft AGL), low ground speed (under ~100 kts), no registered callsign, ICAO hex in unassigned ranges, erratic or loitering kinematics, and sparse Mode S extended data. Above 70 is HIGH confidence, 40–70 MEDIUM, below 40 LOW.
Can it detect a DJI or hobby drone with no transponder?
Not from ADS-B alone — a drone that transmits nothing on these frequencies broadcasts no signal to receive. If it carries a Remote ID module, AeroScope can detect that broadcast with a compatible ground receiver; otherwise only its behavioural effect on tracked traffic is visible.
Is this a counter-drone or jamming system?
No. AeroScope is passive situational awareness — it listens and analyses. It does not transmit, jam, take over, or interfere with any aircraft. It tells you what is likely overhead so a human can decide what to do.