I built a system that takes pictures of all the airplanes that fly over my house (twitter.com)

Article summary

The article discusses a system built by Luke Berndt that takes pictures of airplanes flying over his house. The system uses a camera and software to track and capture images of the planes. The images are then posted on a website, skybot.cam, where they can be viewed by the public. The system also uses FAA aircraft registration data to provide additional information about the planes.

Main themes

• airplane tracking
• ADS-B data
• computer vision
• privacy concerns
• air traffic monitoring
• military aircraft
• FAA registration data
• astronomy mounts

What commenters say

• Some commenters express concern that the system could be used to deduce the location of the person operating it, potentially compromising their privacy.
• Others argue that the system is a cool and interesting project that can provide valuable information about air traffic.
• There is a discussion about the use of ADS-B data versus computer vision approaches to track airplanes.
• Some commenters mention that certain planes, such as military or government aircraft, may not be visible on ADS-B tracking systems, but could potentially be detected using computer vision algorithms.
• It is suggested that using a vision system to capture images of planes could potentially be against the law if it is used to detect planes that are intentionally not broadcasting their location.
• The use of ADS-B data for training a vision solution is proposed as a potential approach to improve the accuracy of plane tracking.
• There is a debate about whether filtering out military planes is necessary or desirable, with some arguing that it is not needed if they are broadcasting their location via ADS-B.
• The possibility of using astronomy mounts and programmatically controlling them to track planes is discussed as a potential alternative to building a custom system.