AN ENTROPY APPROACH TO DATA-COLLECTION NETWORK DESIGN

A new methodology is developed for data collection network design. The approach employs a measure of the information flow between gauging st ations in the network which is referred to as the directional informat ion transfer. The information flow measure is based on the entropy of gauging stations and pairs of gauging stations. Non-parametric estimat ion is used to approximate the multivariate probability density functi ons required in the entropy calculations. The potential application of the approach is illustrated using extreme flow data from a collection of gauging stations located in southern Manitoba, Canada.