Hyderabad airport launches IoT enabled smart baggage trolleys

NEW DELHI: In line with the flagship Digital India Programme of the Government of India, GMR led Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has taken a digital leap by envisioning an airport platform of the Internet of Things (IoT), augmenting its services and operational excellence, which will herald a truly Smart Airport City in Hyderabad.

Taking a firm step towards this vision, the GHIAL has introduced ‘IoT enabled Smart Baggage Trolleys’, becoming India’s first airport to deploy IoT for tracking and maintaining the availability of baggage trolleys for passengers in the real time across the airport.

The airport has deployed LoRa (Long Range) IOT platform for the Airport Baggage Trolley Project. The entire fleet of 3000 baggage trolleys have been enabled with IoT technology.

With this technology in place, there will be substantial reduction in the waiting time of passengers for baggage trolleys and will ensure its availability in sufficient number in the real time. Trolley management and replenishment will be based on the requirement at various areas across the airport enhancing efficiency and passenger experience while making way for smooth operations as well.

Why Smart Baggage Trolleys?

Trolley requirement at the airport is very dynamic in nature. There are two critical zones where availability of trolleys for passengers is vital – Departures Ramp and Baggage Belts at the Arrivals. As per IATA (International Air Transport Association), a global organization supporting aviation with global standards for airline safety, security, efficiency and sustainability, there should be at least 160 trolleys available for 1 million passengers at any airport.

This Smart Baggage Trolley management will address challenges of trolley retrieval and replenishment by locating trolleys at the right time and at the right spot. It also helps tackle theft of trolleys and empowers the airport to meet passenger requirements on a real time basis

Benefits Galore?

The Smart Trolley Management system has the capability to plan baggage trolleys according to the predictive analyses of estimated departure and arrival passenger loads.

It preps the operations team with proactive planning with real-time dashboards/information on the availability of number of baggage trolleys in different airport areas, ensuring its availability for the passengers at right place and right time. It gives ease of accessing data as it is compatible on mobile, desktop and laptop making it user friendly.

With an inbuilt alert mechanism, in case of any trolleys carried out of a “no airport zone” area, it generates an alert message tipping off the location for necessary action which can then be taken to retrieve.

SGK Kishore, ED-South & Chief Innovation Officer, GMR Airports said, “Hyderabad International Airport has been the flag bearer of innovation and technology adoption in many ways and has pioneered many innovative digital solutions to scale up our service and operational excellence. After the successful marquee projects like domestic and international E-boarding and Face Recognition trials, we are revolutionizing the way baggage trolleys are managed with the adoption of IoT as a smart and intelligent solution to help enhance passenger experience and also enable smooth operations and inventory management. Smart Baggage Trolleys is one of the many initiatives as part of our digital excellence transformation and journey.”