How Statistical Signal Processing Was Used to Define the MH370 Search Zone

Abstract

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, departed on 8 March 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew. Communications with the aircraft were lost as it transitioned from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace, and the subsequent search and rescue efforts were unable to find the missing aircraft. Radar data indicates that the aircraft turned to the southwest and crossed Malaysia and then f lew northwest along the Malacca Strait. When the aircraft moved beyond radar coverage, it was still carrying enough fuel to fly for several hours, and the size of the reachable area is almost 20% of the surface of the Earth. Although communications were lost early in flight, there was an active communications link between the aircraft and a satellite; metadata from signaling messages on the link provide information about where the aircraft was, even though no user data was communicated.