The ADS-B Status instrument summarises what iFly is hearing from your receiver in one word. Traffic targets on the map carry a short label that tells you where each report came from. Both are explained here.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No Heartbeat | No receiver is connected, or the one that is connected is not sending any data. See ADS-B troubleshooting. |
| Out of Range | Connected to the receiver, but it is not hearing an FAA ground station. Air-to-air traffic can still arrive; weather and NOTAMs cannot. Normal on the ground and at low altitude. |
| Tower Idle | Ground data was arriving but nothing has been heard for about 60 seconds, typically in a terrain shadow or during descent. If it continues for a few minutes the state changes to Out of Range. |
| Receiving | Connected and receiving both ground (weather) and traffic data. |
Switching to Tower Idle on final approach, or when flying into an area without coverage, is expected and not a fault.
| Label | Source of the report |
|---|---|
| Traffic | Heard directly from the other aircraft's ADS-B Out on 978 MHz (UAT). |
| Trfc(ES) | Heard directly on 1090 MHz Extended Squitter, the Mode S transponder form of ADS-B Out. |
| Trfc(TIS) | Rebroadcast by an FAA ground station (TIS-B): a radar track of an aircraft that may not have ADS-B Out. Only available while a tower is in range. |
| Trfc(SFC) | An airport ground vehicle. |
Seeing yourself as traffic?
The FAA feed includes your own aircraft, and receivers do not always filter it out. Leave Filter Ghost Traffic enabled in the ADS-B settings; it works out which target is you and hides it from the map and the alerts.