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Streaming Platform

The ADS-B Exchange Streaming Platform delivers a real-time* stream of aviation events over gRPC, sourced from the global ADS-B Exchange receiver network. Server-side filters let you narrow the stream to the aircraft, regions, or attributes you care about.

What you'll receive​

Aircraft State​

A continuous stream of state updates, one per tracked aircraft. Each snapshot covers:

  • Identity
  • Position
  • Altitude
  • Movement
  • Autopilot & navigation
  • Atmospheric (derived)
  • GPS integrity
  • Data quality
  • Source indicators
  • Timing & metadata
  • ACAS / TCAS

See Aircraft for every field in each category. Records are sparse — most fields are optional and simply omitted when unavailable; the reference covers the presence rules and the two typing edge cases (missing positions and the alt_baro "ground" value).

How you'll receive it​

  • Protocol: gRPC over HTTP/2
  • Payload: continuous batches of aircraft state updates, delivered as JSON arrays inside JsonAircraftBatch messages
  • Authentication: Client ID via the client-id request header; Subscription ID in the request body
  • Optional filtering: narrow what you receive via the subscription's FilterString — see Filtering
  • Always-current: every aircraft is delivered as a complete, up-to-the-moment snapshot of its latest known state — see General Guidance

* Sub-second buffering and network optimisations are in place for performance reasons.