SkyScan — Autonomously Filming Aircraft
Luke Berndt, Mike Chadwick
ShmooCon XX (Final) · Day 2 · Build It
In their ShmooCon presentation, Luke Berndt and Mike Chadwick of iqt's Rapid Prototyping Group unveiled **SkyScan**, an innovative, open-source project designed to autonomously track and film aircraft broadcasting their position via **ADS-B** (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast). This system offers a low-cost, portable solution for anyone interested in observing and documenting aerial activity, from commercial airliners to military cargo planes, helicopters, and even weather balloons equipped with transponders.
AI review
This project, SkyScan, is a well-engineered, open-source system for autonomously tracking and filming aircraft using readily available ADS-B data and commercial PTZ cameras. While not groundbreaking in its core ADS-B reception, the implementation of smooth, interpolated camera tracking and the practical application for real-time observation and OSINT make this a strong, actionable piece of research. The speakers demonstrate a clear understanding of the entire stack, from hardware to data processing.