Identification of atypical flight patterns
First Claim
1. A method for analyzing aircraft flight data, the method comprising:
- (i) receiving flight data for measurements of each of P selected parameters {m(t;
k;
q)} (k=1, . . . , P) at each of N selected times (t=tn) (n=n0, . . . , n0+N−
1;
N≧
2) for one or more selected flights (q) of one or more aircraft;
(ii) for each continuous-valued parameter p(t;
k1) of each flight, numbered k1=1, . . . , K1 (K1≧
0), and for a selected sequence of the times t=tn (n=n0, n0+1, . . . , n=n0+N−
1, providing a polynomial approximation p(t;
k1;
app)=a (tn0;
k1)+b (tn0;
k1)·
(t−
tn0)+c(tn0;
k1).(t−
tn0)2+e(tn0;
k1), where e(tn0;
k1) is an error term, whose sum of the squares d(tn0;
k1)=(N−
3)−
1*Σ
e(tn;
k1)2, is minimized by the choice of the terms a(tn0;
k1), b (tn0;
k1) and c(tn0;
k1);
(iii) forming vectors A={a(tn0;
k1)}n0, B={b(tn0;
k1)}n0,C={c(tn0;
k1)}n0, and D={d(tn0;
k1)}n0, forming an M1×
1 vector E1 including a first order statistic m1(v), a second order statistic m2(v), a minimum value min(v) and a maximum value max(v) for each of the vectors v=A, v=B, v=C and v=D;
(iv) for each discrete-valued parameter, numbered k2=1 . . . , K2 (K2≧
0) and having L(k2) discrete values, and for the selected sequence of times, forming an L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix whose entries are the number of transitions between any two of the L(k2) discrete values of this parameter, dividing each of the original diagonal entries by a sum of the original diagonal entries of the L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix to form a modified L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix, and forming an L×
1 vector E2 of entries from the modified L(k2)×
L(k2) matrices, where L is the sum of the values L(k2)2;
(v) forming an M×
1 data vector E with entries including m1(v), m2(v), min(v) and max(v) for each of the vectors v=A, v=B, v=C and v=D, and including the entries of the modified L×
1 vector, where M=M1+L;
(vi) computing a covariance matrix F=cov(E);
(vii) computing eigenvalues, λ
=λ
1, λ
2, . . . , λ
M, for an equation F·
V(λ
)=λ
V(λ
), where λ
1≧
λ
2≧
. . . ≧
λ
M; and
(viii) computing a transformed matrix G=DM·
F, where DM is a selected data matrix.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Method and system for analyzing aircraft data, including multiple selected flight parameters for a selected phase of a selected flight, and for determining when the selected phase of the selected flight is atypical, when compared with corresponding data for the same phase for other similar flights. A flight signature is computed using continuous-valued and discrete-valued flight parameters for the selected flight parameters and is optionally compared with a statistical distribution of other observed flight signatures, yielding atypicality scores for the same phase for other similar flights. A cluster analysis is optionally applied to the flight signatures to define an optimal collection of clusters. A level of atypicality for a selected flight is estimated, based upon an index associated with the cluster analysis.
-
Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method for analyzing aircraft flight data, the method comprising:
-
(i) receiving flight data for measurements of each of P selected parameters {m(t;
k;
q)} (k=1, . . . , P) at each of N selected times (t=tn) (n=n0, . . . , n0+N−
1;
N≧
2) for one or more selected flights (q) of one or more aircraft;(ii) for each continuous-valued parameter p(t;
k1) of each flight, numbered k1=1, . . . , K1 (K1≧
0), and for a selected sequence of the times t=tn (n=n0, n0+1, . . . , n=n0+N−
1, providing a polynomial approximation p(t;
k1;
app)=a (tn0;
k1)+b (tn0;
k1)·
(t−
tn0)+c(tn0;
k1).(t−
tn0)2+e(tn0;
k1), where e(tn0;
k1) is an error term, whose sum of the squares d(tn0;
k1)=(N−
3)−
1*Σ
e(tn;
k1)2, is minimized by the choice of the terms a(tn0;
k1), b (tn0;
k1) and c(tn0;
k1);(iii) forming vectors A={a(tn0;
k1)}n0, B={b(tn0;
k1)}n0,C={c(tn0;
k1)}n0, and D={d(tn0;
k1)}n0, forming an M1×
1 vector E1 including a first order statistic m1(v), a second order statistic m2(v), a minimum value min(v) and a maximum value max(v) for each of the vectors v=A, v=B, v=C and v=D;(iv) for each discrete-valued parameter, numbered k2=1 . . . , K2 (K2≧
0) and having L(k2) discrete values, and for the selected sequence of times, forming an L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix whose entries are the number of transitions between any two of the L(k2) discrete values of this parameter, dividing each of the original diagonal entries by a sum of the original diagonal entries of the L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix to form a modified L(k2)×
L(k2) matrix, and forming an L×
1 vector E2 of entries from the modified L(k2)×
L(k2) matrices, where L is the sum of the values L(k2)2;(v) forming an M×
1 data vector E with entries including m1(v), m2(v), min(v) and max(v) for each of the vectors v=A, v=B, v=C and v=D, and including the entries of the modified L×
1 vector, where M=M1+L;(vi) computing a covariance matrix F=cov(E); (vii) computing eigenvalues, λ
=λ
1, λ
2, . . . , λ
M, for an equation F·
V(λ
)=λ
V(λ
), where λ
1≧
λ
2≧
. . . ≧
λ
M; and(viii) computing a transformed matrix G=DM·
F, where DM is a selected data matrix. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
Specification