Prediction of aircraft performances based on data collected by air traffic control centers

Abstract

Accurate prediction of aircraft position is becoming more and more important for the future of air traffic. Currently, the lack of information about flights prevents us to fulfill future demands for the needed accuracy in 4D trajectory prediction. Until we get the necessary information from aircraft and until new more accurate methods are implemented and used, we propose an alternative method for predicting aircraft performances using machine learning from historical data about past flights collected in a multidimensional database. In that way, we can improve existing applications by providing them better inputs for their trajectory calculations. Our method uses flight plan data to predict performance values, which are suited individually for each flight. The results show that based on recorded past aircraft performances and related flight data we can effectively predict performances for future flights based on how similar flights behaved in the past.