Motion Analytics to Be Applied in Airport Security

Motion Analytics to Be Applied in Airport Security

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Less than 100,000 people went through airport checkpoints in the United States on an April day, compared to nearly 2.6 million on that day last year, according to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the drop in passenger traffic at many airports around the globe is setting new record lows. 

One of the challenges once travel restrictions are lifted and airport traffic picks up will be finding ways to ensure those who are traveling are maintaining the recommended 6-foot distance to mitigate the spread of the virus. The motion analytics company iinside has developed a way to use its technology to measure the average distance between people in security lines and the length of time they remain at that distance.

The platform ingests data from multiple sensor sources, from Bluetooth to WiFi to LiDAR, to produce actionable insights and key performance indicators that help improve passenger service levels.

The new SafeDistance update will help airports track passenger spacing to:

  • Provide tailored alerts when passenger crowding becomes too dense
  • Inform TSA when too many passengers are lined up in queues
  • Send notifications when proper social spacing must be improved
  • Provide near-term historical heat maps that highlight zones where passengers are crowding up

The service is being rolled out for free to the company’s airport customers that are already using its 3D LiDAR laser beam technology to manage passenger flow at security checkpoints.

To start, the company will give the airports hourly summaries of trailing data for each of their security checkpoints, with a score based on both the average distance between people in line and for how long that distance was maintained, according to phocuswire.com.

In the next phase, dashboards and heat maps will be developed, showing real-time data. Since the existing LiDAR detection system is focused on a defined distance around checkpoints, as traffic picks up there may be airports that want to add additional sensors to monitor distancing in other parts of their facilities.