From open data to biometric processing
Sydney Airport’s new technology strategy starting to pay off
Australia’s busiest airport currently handles 42.5 million passengers and as traffic continues to grow, technology is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring that both the customer experience and operational efficiency improve at Sydney Airport.
A new technology strategy, which was devised following the appointment of Stuart Rattray as General Manager Technology in 2015, is at the centre of these efforts.
“We started our new technology strategy with a view to having the customer experience at the core, but we also recognised that there are other stakeholders involved in that customer experience and how we deliver value to our customers,” Rattray told FTE.
Like many others, Sydney Airport has been investing in self-service technologies such as kiosks and bag drops, but the approach to using open data is certainly a more distinctive element of its plans. As part of this “open data strategy”, as Rattray terms it, Sydney Airport has just become the first organisation outside of China to introduce the indoor Baidu Maps app to better help passengers navigate the airport’s terminals. Popular among Chinese consumers, the app provides intuitive navigation at various public venues across China. Now, Sydney Airport has been added to the list, adding value to those passengers flying to any of the 15 Chinese destinations served from Sydney.
“The thinking behind this is really recognising that we as an airport don’t have a direct channel to all of our customers,” Rattray explained.
“More than 42 million passengers go through our terminals every year. We have a lot of very, very useful information and data that our customers would love to get and we don’t always have a direct channel to them. So, we asked ‘how do we get that information to our customers through whichever channel they choose to use?’”
Having worked with Google to add Sydney Airport to Google Indoor Maps, it quickly became apparent that the platform adds limited value to Chinese travellers, who instead tend to use Baidu Maps for navigation. Sally Fielke, General Manager Corporate Affairs at Sydney Airport, explained that integration with Baidu was part of a “very deliberate attempt to get information that’s useful to our customers through whichever channel they choose to use”.
“I would much rather have useful information in front of 80% of our customers on their journey (through third-party channels), than useful info through our own channel getting to only 10% of them,” Rattray added.
Real-time and relevant information
Next on the ‘to do’ list is to make it easy for Sydney Airport’s airline partners to add real-time queuing information to their own apps to help relieve anxiety among passengers who are waiting to clear check-in, bag drop, security or immigration. The airport already provides real-time waiting information on screens in the terminal and is now in the process of making that information easily accessible via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Bigger plans are also in place with regards to the open data strategy. Fielke revealed that Sydney Airport plans to leverage data to simplify the “couch to gate” experience, by providing travellers with relevant information throughout their journey, from planning to departure. “We need to look at where we can collaborate and that’s something we are actively doing,” she said.
There is a recognition that a more open approach to data can deliver big benefits on a B2B level, too. Development of a community app, perhaps similar to what has been implemented at Gatwick Airport, is being considered to help ensure that all 29,000 people who work on the airport precinct have access to relevant, real-time information that can help them realise efficiency and customer experience improvements.
End-to-end biometric processing
Like many of the more forward-thinking airports around the world, Sydney Airport is also exploring how the existing passenger touch-points in the terminal can be optimised.
On this front, Rattray and Fielke revealed to FTE that end-to-end biometric-enabled passenger processing will be trialled from mid-2018. This aims to allow passengers departing on international flights to complete the check-in, bag drop, security, outbound immigration and boarding processes using facial recognition technology, instead of having to present their passport and boarding pass at every checkpoint.
Rattray explained that biometric-enabled passenger processing is an attractive proposition for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has the potential to both enhance security and create a more seamless customer experience. Secondly, it will allow for more efficient use of the existing terminal space and infrastructure. Thirdly, it can align the requirements of the airlines and the airport, who have a shared desire to improve the overall travel experience.
Rattray also revealed that more than one approach will likely be tested, with both onsite and offsite biometric enrolment to be considered as part of the trial. Fielke added: “It’ll probably happen in parts but one day there will be that joined up approach, end-to-end.”
It is this joined up approach that will play a crucial role in improving the customer experience and optimising efficiency at Sydney Airport in the coming months and years. From the open data strategy to the collaboration with airlines to explore end-to-end biometric processing, Rattray, Fielke and their colleagues are refreshingly willing to embrace collaboration to deliver benefits to the most important customers of all: the passengers.
credit source : https://tinyurl.com/y9yd7ujw
Dubai airport’s new virtual aquarium tunnel scans your face as you walk through it
Passengers will no longer have to wait in line at security counters or pass through e-gates, instead walking through a tunnel that scans people’s faces.
Dubai airport security tunnel.
Travellers departing from Dubai will no longer need to pass through any sort of security clearance counter or e-gate, they will simply walk through a virtual aquarium tunnel that will scan their face or iris using hidden cameras while they’re in motion.
The tunnel, which will display high-quality images of an aquarium, will be equipped with about 80 cameras set up in every corner and the idea came about after 18 months of brainstorming.
The move is one of several new security measures taken by Dubai aviation officials, such as replacing the explosive detection scanners with new, Chinese-made ones that can detect a wider range of explosive materials.
“The fish is a sort of entertainment and something new for the traveller but, at the end of the day, it attracts the vision of the travellers to different corners in the tunnel for the cameras to capture his/her face print,” said Major Gen Obaid Al Hameeri, deputy director general of Dubai residency and foreign affairs.
“The virtual images are of very high quality and gives a simulation of a real-life aquarium.”
The tunnel display can also be altered to offer other natural settings, such as the desert, or even to display adverts.
At the end of the tunnel, if the traveller is already registered, they will either receive a green message that says “have a nice trip” or, if the person is wanted for some reason, a red sign will alert the operations room to interfere.
Your smartphone is now your passport at Dubai airport
Emiratis, GCC citizens and the UAE residents who use the smart gates will no longer have to queue at the boarding gates.
If you’re travelling first class or business, a soon-to-be-implemented project will allow you to go straight to boarding gate without undergoing immigration check at Dubai airports.
The ongoing Gitex Technology Week revealed that two future projects and one currently being implemented will make travelling smooth and smart at Dubai airports.
There is another future project that will allow passengers to finish immigration check under 15 seconds by walking through a ‘smart tunnel’ without the need of presenting their passport.
And a system currently implemented on a limited basis allows travellers to fly even without their passports or boarding pass as long as they have their smartphone.
Speaking to Khaleej Times at the Gitex Technology Week in Dubai on Monday, Capt Amer Rashed Almheiri, general directorate of residency and foreign affairs (GDRFA) director of smart application department, said as part of the Dubai 10X Initiative, a futuristic project will allow a traveller to ride an e-car, equipped with immigration checks.
“There is a camera inside the car that uses facial recognition, which is connected to smart immigration gates at the check-in areas.
“All information are captured, including passport details and the boarding pass will be sent to the counter. The traveller will not have to go through the immigration and can go straight to the lounge and the boarding gate,” he said.
“What is more amazing is that there is a weighing scale and scanner at the boot of the car so the baggage will be weighed, scanned for any prohibited materials and after passing the scanning will go straight to the cargo area of the plane,” Almheiri added.
source : https://tinyurl.com/y7q2bsmf
Unmanned flying taxis, cargo airplanes to hit the stratosphere soon [Hi-Tech]
The United Arab Emirates wants to run the world’s first drone taxi service
to lead the Arab world in innovation. The first drone taxi service showcased last week in Dubai. The flying taxi was developed by German drone firm Volocopter. It is made up of a two-seater helicopter cabin and a wide hoop studded with 18 propellers on the top. The maiden test run was performed in a ceremony for the Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.
SITA to Bring Biometric Passenger Identification Solutions to Qatar Airport
SITA will soon bring its biometric passenger processing technology to the Hamad International Airport,
in Qatar, with the parties having just signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on advanced passenger processing solutions. The agreement will see SITA implement 62 of its biometric check-in kiosks at the airport, as well as the deployment of biometric e-gates.
The organizations will also trial the use of robots for passenger assistance, blockchain technology, and virtual and augmented reality technologies; but a statement announcing the MoU emphasized the importance of biometrics to HIA’s overall strategy, with HIA COO Badr Mohammed Al Meer explaining, “The use of biometrics as the only verification required at each passenger touch point along the airport journey will go a long way in improving the flow of passengers, providing a better travel experience as well as greater operational visibility for the stakeholders.”
The MoU comes after SITA and HIA trialled biometric exit screening last year, and soon after HIA worked with Iris ID to implement biometric passenger screening based on iris recognition earlier this year, further underling the airport’s commitment to the implementation of biometric technologies. For its part, SITA has just proclaimed the success of a biometric passenger identification program conducted in collaboration with JetBlue and the US Customs and Border Protection agency at Boston Logan International Airport. That program sought to replace passengers’ travel documents with facial recognition, suggesting that this modality will play a central role in SITA’s work with Hamad International Airport.
source : https://tinyurl.com/yb3pbjvb
Hamad International Airport reveals biometrics, robotics, blockchain, AR and VR technology plans
Hamad International Airport (HIA) has revealed its plans to tap into a variety of new and emerging technologies as part of its “Smart Airport” vision.
HIA and SITA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which provides the framework for the two organisations to implement or trial biometrics, robots, blockchain, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology solutions at the Doha hub airport.
The main focus of the MoU is to advance HIA’s plans to implement seamless identity management across all key passenger touch-points using biometrics. The formalisation of the partnership follows last year’s pilot of biometric exit checks.
‘Your face becomes your passport’
According to Suhail Kadri, Vice President Information Technology, Hamad International Airport, the implementation of biometric technology will help to “enable us to become a fully digital airport”.
Today, passengers departing from HIA have to show their boarding pass and/or passport at multiple touch-points but the use of facial recognition technology will remove the need to present physical documents.
Kadri explained: “Once you’ve registered the first contact at the airport, from then onwards all you need to do is show your face at check-in, self-bag drop, pre-border control, immigration and ultimately at the boarding gate.
“This, if you imagine, will completely transform how you experience the airport today,” he added. “Your face becomes your passport.”
Common-use kiosks and self-tagging
It has also been revealed that SITA will be supplying and commissioning 62 of its latest-generation common-use check-in kiosks with self-tagging capabilities, as well as e-gates prior to border control in departures. Initially, three kiosks and e-gates will be able to use biometric technology to identify passengers, while biometric sensors and readers can be added to the others at a later date.
Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer, Hamad International Airport, explained that biometric-based passenger processing will also deliver benefits to the airport and its partners. “The use of biometrics as the only verification required at each passenger touch-point along the airport journey will go a long way in improving the flow of passengers, providing a better travel experience as well as greater operational visibility for the stakeholders.”
The MoU also lays the foundations for future trials to evaluate the effectiveness of robots for passenger facilitation, blockchain technology for rapid and secure sharing of data across stakeholders, and the potential use of augmented and virtual reality for operational concepts.
source : https://tinyurl.com/yc797thu