Engineering topics

Melton, R. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Melton, R. G..

3 records

NASA NTRS1984

The fallacy of using NII in analyzing aircraft operations

Three measures of noise annoyance (Noise Impact Index, Level-Weighted Population, and Annoyed Population Number) are compared, regarding their utility in assessing noise reduction schemes for aircraft operations. While NII is intended to measure the average annoyance per person in a community, it is found that the method of averaging can lead to erroneous conclusions, particularly if the population does not have uniform spatial distribution. Level-Weighted Population and Annoyed Population Number are shown to be better indicators of noise annoyance when rating different strategies for noise reduction in a given community.

Melton, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Aircraft trajectories for reduced noise impact

Numerical optimization is used to compute the optimum flight paths, based upon a parametric form that implicitly includes some of the problem restrictions. The other constraints are formulated as penalties in the cost function. Various aircraft on multiple trajectories (landing and takeoff) can be considered. The modular design employed allows for the substitution of alternate models of the population distribution, aircraft noise, flight paths, and annoyance, or for the addition of other features (e.g., fuel consumption) in the cost function. A reduction in the required amount of searching over local minima was achieved through use of the presence of statistical lateral dispersion in the flight paths. Previously announced in STAR as N81-31159

Melton, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Minimum noise impact aircraft trajectories

Numerical optimization is used to compute the optimum flight paths, based upon a parametric form that implicitly includes some of the problem restrictions. The other constraints are formulated as penalties in the cost function. Various aircraft on multiple trajectores (landing and takeoff) can be considered. The modular design employed allows for the substitution of alternate models of the population distribution, aircraft noise, flight paths, and annoyance, or for the addition of other features (e.g., fuel consumption) in the cost function. A reduction in the required amount of searching over local minima was achieved through use of the presence of statistical lateral dispersion in the flight paths.

Jacobson, I. D.↗