Data Feeds
ADS-B Online Aircraft Locations
WFTAK utilizes a technology called ADS-B to track the locations of public safety-related aircraft. This technology is federally mandated for all aircraft to use in controlled airspace, and provides up-to-the-second tracking of aircraft when they are in view of ground tracking stations.
WFTAK has partnered with ADS-B Exchange to utilize their data feed of real-time aircraft locations. Every 10 seconds ADS-B Exchange provides the locations of all aircraft over WFTAK. A process then filters out all non-public safety aircraft and passes only the locations of public safety-related aircraft into the “Aircraft Tracking” channel in WFTAK, which is available to all WFTAK users.
Note that an aircraft only will show up in this feed if at least one ADS-B Exchange ground station is receiving the ADS-B signal of the aircraft. If you wish to improve the aircraft tracking coverage in your jurisdiction you may set up your own ADS-B Exchange ground station, and by doing so you will improve the aircraft tracking coverage for WFTAK in your area.
Disconnected/Local ADS-B Aircraft Tracking
It is also possible to deploy a USB-powered aircraft tracking sensor at the scene of a public safety incident to gain situational awareness on all aircraft locations in the immediate area. This type of local sensor works with the TAK apps regardless of whether you have cell service or an internet connection.
The Colorado Center of Excellence (the team building WFTAK) has partnered with Sensors & Signals LLC to create and sustain this capability, called AirTAK. The software required to create an AirTAK device is open source and is deployed on a small Linux computer such as a Raspberry Pi.
Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL)
WFTAK is also able to ingest Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) positions. The USFS has equipped their vehicles with AVLs that operate on GeoTab hardware, via the AT&T network. While in coverage, a location will be sent by GeoTab and ingested by WFTAK. These locations can be found in the WFTAK – All Users channel. WFTAK is also ingesting BLM AVLs via Skymira hardware that operates on the Iridium Satellite network. While the locations are not as frequent, they do provide coverage in all areas regardless of cellular service.
Additional Layers
WFTAK ingests resource locations of TAK users, AVLs, and aircraft as well as other situational awareness information. Examples of displayable situational awareness includes: current fire perimeters, AI-generated perimeters, FireGuard polygons, Incident Awareness and Assessment Full-Motion Video (FMV) and imagery (IR/color), lightning layers, ground-based cameras feeds, and new detection polygons and/or points. Users can also import their own PDF maps to use overlays.
