An Approach of ACARS Trajectory Reconstruction Based on Adaptive Cubic Spline Interpolation

Trajectory reconstruction is one of the key technologies to achieve flight trajectory and ensure the safety of flight. Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) is a digital data link system that transmits short messages by radio or satellite between aircraft and ground station. In this paper, an approach based on adaptive cubic spline interpolation is proposed for ACARS trajectory reconstruction. The ACARS data points of different flight phases are reconstructed, and the appropriate trajectory curve is obtained. This approach is verified in simulation platform by using true flight historical data. Experimental results show that this approach obtained better smoothness and lower error precision than that of traditional trajectory reconstruction algorithm, especially in take-off and landing phases. Improving the degree of cure smoothing and decreasing its error are helpful to the accurate trajectory and position of the flight, which provides a guarantee for the safe operation of the air traffic.