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Visualising flight regimes using self-organising maps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2023

O. Bektas*
Affiliation:
Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey
*
Corresponding author: O. Bektas; Emails: oguz.bektas@medeniyet.edu.tr, oguz.bektas@warwickgrad.net
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to group the flight data phases based on the sensor readings that are most distinctive and to create a representation of the higher-dimensional input space as a two-dimensional cluster map. The research design includes a self-organising map framework that provides spatially organised representations of flight signal features and abstractions. Flight data are mapped on a topology-preserving organisation that describes the similarity of their content. The findings reveal that there is a significant correlation between monitored flight data signals and given flight data phases. In addition, the clusters of flight regimes can be determined and observed on the maps. This suggests that further flight data processing schemes can use the same data marking and mapping themes regarding flight phases when working on a regime basis. The contribution of the research is the grouping of real data flows produced by in-flight sensors for aircraft monitoring purposes, thus visualising the evolution of the signal monitored on a real aircraft.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Aeronautical Society
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flight phases.

Figure 1

Figure 2. A simple Kohonen network, self-organising map.

Figure 2

Table 1. Selected flight parameters from NASA Sample Flight Dataset

Figure 3

Figure 3. Selected flight parameters in all flight phases.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Flight parameters in selected flight phases.

Figure 5

Figure 5. Component planes.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Maps showing flight parameter patterns with data points coloured according to the SOM clusters.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Maps showing flight parameter patterns with reduced SOM clusters.

Figure 8

Table 2. Confusion matrix for the results of the SOM algorithm

Figure 9

Figure 8. U-Matrix with BMU for each data point.

Figure 10

Table 3. Classification report for the results of the SOM algorithm

Figure 11

Figure 9. Confusion Matrix Plot for model performance – PH/cluster options are as follows: 0:Taxi; 1:Climb; 2:Cruise; 3:Approach.

Figure 12

Figure 10. Comparison of clusters by pressure altitude LSP.