Comparative analysis of coverage performance of shore-based ADS-B receiving stations based on SRTM3

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology is widely used in the field of civil aviation. ADS-B signals follow relevant civil aviation standards and serve as airborne radiation sources for known relevant information. In order to study the radio wave propagation at shore-based ADS-B receiving stations This paper proposes a coverage performance method for shore-based ADS-B receiving stations based on Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 3 second (SRTM3). A shore-based ADS-B signal receiving station was set up to receive ADS-B signals at land and sea areas. Based on the high-precision SRTM3 geographic elevation data, and considering the influence of irregular terrain, by calculating the shielding angle in different azimuths, the shielding angle of the ADS-B receiving station and the theoretical prediction coverage performance in the standard atmospheric environment are analyzed. The calculation results show that the agreement between the theory and the actual measurement indicates that the algorithm is effective. Furthermore, based on the ADS-B monitoring data measured throughout the year from June 2021 to May 2022, a comparison of theoretical and measured coverage performance in each month was given. The prediction errors in November, December and January are relatively small, with an average error of less than 22 km; in other months, the errors are larger, with an average error of up to 200 km. These results can provide a reference for the performance improvement of the coverage algorithm of ADS-B signals.