Positioning based on aircraft signals has been proposed as an alternative to satellite-based positioning systems (e.g. GPS). However, so far, no deployment of this technique exists, and the real-world performance remains unclear. This paper contributes at better understanding the performance tradeoffs under realistic conditions. We implement SkyPos, a localization system for GPS-denied areas or location integrity that opportunistically uses the large availability of aircraft signals to self-localize receivers. We analyze SkyPos with data collected from hundreds of sensors and thousands of aircraft around Europe. Our results show that we can achieve median accuracy down to 10 m in seconds, enabling almost real-time positioning or location verification using aircraft signals at scale

Given the availability of lightweight radio and processing technology, it becomes feasible to imagine spectrum sensing systems using weather balloons. Such balloons navigate the airspace up to 40 km, and can provide a bird’s eye and clear view of terrestrial, as well as aerial spectrum use. In this paper, we present SkySense, which is an extension of the Electrosense sensing framework with mobile GPS-located sensors and local data logging. In addition, we present 6 different sensing campaigns, targeting multiple terrestrial or aerial technologies such as ADS-B, AIS or LTE.