Automated aircraft tracking for park and landscape planning

Abstract Visitors to parks and protected areas appreciate and expect the opportunity to experience natural sounds, and are bothered by human-caused noises that reduce this opportunity. One of the most pervasive sources of noise in parks is aircraft. In 2017, there were over 150,000 reported air tours over U.S. National Park Service (NPS) units, excluding all units in the state of Alaska. There are also international protected areas impacted by the noise from air tours. In most cases, managers do not know the exact routes and altitudes of air tours, making planning efforts difficult. However, many countries are beginning to require all aircraft entering designated airspace to be equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out avionics. ADS-B Out broadcasts an un-encrypted and publicly accessible signal that relays real-time information including latitude, longitude, altitude, and unique identification code. In the U.S., this unique code can be cross-referenced to a Federal Aviation Administration database that provides aircraft tail number, model, and owner. This new technology presents opportunities for managers and regional/community planners to understand the types of aircraft, routes, and altitudes of flights that occur in the airspace above parks and adjacent communities, improving planning efforts for parks working to manage air tours. This study explores the feasibility of collecting ADS-B data by testing loggers at three U.S. NPS units. The findings of this study suggest that ADS-B data can be efficiently collected and processed; inform planners about the routes, altitudes, types of aircraft, and operators of overflights; and inform air tour management.