ASA 129th Meeting - Washington, DC - 1995 May 30 .. Jun 06

2pNS3. Statistical methods for automated INM path derivation.

David A. Flynn

Larson Davis Labs., 1681 W 820 N, Provo, UT 84601

Flight paths at an airport can be viewed as samples of a statistical distribution. An individual sample path x[sub i], is described by the position as a function of distance from the airport. The mean paths of distribution minimize (Sigma)x[sub i]-, where the operator ``-'' is an approximation of the difference in ground noise projection of two paths, and ``m'' is the desired number of mean paths. Cluster analysis methods can be used to find this set of mean paths: they will by definition be the optimal m paths for use in the INM in place of the original sample paths. These methods can reduce hundreds of thousands of radar monitored paths into a concise set of INM tracks. Moreover, they do not suffer measurement anomalies that gate penetration analysis suffers.