Community
$0/mo
The mesh, the docs, the protocol. For everyone.
- Run unlimited feeders
- Public API access
- Community support
- Open-source dashboards
Open · Decentralized · Real-time
MeshSky is an open protocol that links community feeders, AirBridge relays, and ControlTower nodes into a planetary mesh — democratizing aviation telemetry and MLAT for everyone.
What MeshSky Is
MeshSky stitches together independently-operated radio receivers — feeders — into a single, low-latency network. Aircraft signals captured anywhere on Earth become instantly available everywhere, without a central gatekeeper.
An open protocol, open data, and open governance. Anyone can run a node, contribute, fork, or extend the spec.
No single company owns the mesh. Feeders earn reputation; the network self-organizes through cryptographic peering.
Runs on a Raspberry Pi, a router, or a hyperscale gateway. The protocol is bandwidth-aware and gracefully degrades.
Architecture
MeshSky is composed of three cooperating tiers — feeders at the edge, AirBridge in the middle, and ControlTower at the apex — bound together by a gossip protocol with cryptographic provenance.
The mesh has no single point of failure. Feeders peer with multiple AirBridge relays; AirBridges gossip with each other; ControlTower nodes reach consensus on positions, identity, and reputation.
Feeders
A feeder is anything that listens to the sky and signs what it hears. Run one on a $35 SDR and a Raspberry Pi, or scale to a roof-top antenna farm.
Official images for Raspberry Pi, x86 Linux, OpenWrt, and Docker. One-line install, automatic updates, signed releases.
Feeder docsEvery signed observation increases your feeder’s standing. High-reputation feeders gain priority routing and (in time) protocol-level rewards.
How rewards workFeeders negotiate compression and sample rates with their AirBridge peers. Run on satellite, LTE, or fiber — the mesh adapts.
Operators choose what to share. Geo-fuzzing, opt-in identity, and signed audit trails are first-class protocol concerns.
AirBridge
AirBridge nodes form a gossiping mid-tier that fans out signed feeder observations across regions in under 200 milliseconds.
A QUIC-based gossip protocol propagates aircraft positions across continents faster than they can move.
Relays organize themselves into a Voronoi tessellation of the planet, so traffic stays local and latency stays low.
Lose a relay and the mesh re-routes in seconds. Lose a region and neighboring shards take over until you’re back.
ControlTower
ControlTower nodes ingest the signed observation stream and produce the network’s authoritative outputs: deduplicated tracks, MLAT solutions, reputation scores, and a public API.
Anyone can run a ControlTower. They’re fully verifiable: every output is reproducible from the signed observation log. Multiple ControlTowers reach consensus through the same gossip layer, so the network stays trust-minimized even at the apex.
{
"icao": "A12B34",
"callsign": "MSKY101",
"position": {
"lat": 47.6204,
"lon": -122.3491,
"alt_ft": 34000
},
"track": 285,
"speed_kt": 462,
"source": "mlat+adsb",
"feeders": 14,
"confidence": 0.992,
"signed_by": ["airbridge-pnw-3", "ct-eu-1"]
} MLAT
MeshSky brings open MLAT to anyone — locating non-ADS-B aircraft using time-of-arrival differences across cooperating feeders, with zero proprietary servers.
Solutions are computed in any ControlTower, verified independently, and re-broadcast through the mesh.
GPS-disciplined feeders share precision time references. The protocol negotiates timing budgets per shard.
Every new feeder strengthens MLAT for everyone in range — open data with positive externalities.
Decentralization
MeshSky is a protocol, not a product. The reference implementations are MIT-licensed; the spec is governed in the open; the network has no admin button.
Versioned, semantically-stable, and forever public. Implement it in any language, on any platform.
A foundation stewards the spec. RFCs are public. Anyone can propose changes; rough consensus and running code decide.
Network output is freely usable, with attribution. Operators can layer commercial services on top — the mesh stays free.
Pricing
MeshSky the protocol is free, forever. The MeshSky Foundation offers paid tooling for operators who want managed dashboards, premium APIs, or enterprise SLAs.
Community
The mesh, the docs, the protocol. For everyone.
Operator
For active feeder operators who want managed tooling.
Enterprise
For airlines, ANSPs, and integrators with SLA needs.
It takes 15 minutes, a Raspberry Pi, and an SDR. The mesh is waiting.