Copenhagen Airport Pilots RFID Tags for Passengers

The system will also enable airports to determine passengers' locations in real time, says project leader John Paulin Hansen of the IT University of Copenhagen, allowing them to adjust staffing levels on the fly. "The airport can increase manning on the security lines," he states, "because they can see people checking in and know that in 15 minutes, those people will be going through security."

Paulin Hansen says the Copenhagen Airport project was the first he was aware of that combined RFID and Bluetooth, and that the two technologies were highly complementary. "We can calibrate the systems [RFID and Bluetooth] against each other," he explains. "Therefore, we have been able to achieve 100 percent accurate tracking of passengers." Passengers with Bluetooth phones can also receive location-based services such as TravelMate, which can provide customized data about their destination.



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In addition to cutting delayed flights, the airport can utilize the passenger data to analyze the flow of travelers throughout the facility, as well as to shape its strategy for placing restaurants and stores along the terminal. "There's a lot of opportunities to look at, How long do people stay in certain areas? How long do they stay in the shop, and how much are they spending?" says Copenhagen Airport's Soe.

The software behind the Gatecaller system is based on a database created by Lyngsoe and further developed by the IT University of Copenhagen, and it has a Web-based interface enabling users to follow passengers' whereabouts in real time. To assuage privacy concerns, the current demonstrations operate on an opt-in basis. What's more, although the system currently reveals a passenger's location only within an area 100 by 100 meters in size, Paulin Hansen claims greater precision is possible.

According to surveys conducted by Copenhagen Airport, passengers are interested in having access to online updates in order to track family members, such as children traveling alone or elderly parents. "Passengers believe that if it can help them, they have no issue with the technology," says Jan Poulsen, a sales manager with Lyngsoe, which has already developed RFID-based baggage-handling systems for airports in Hong Kong and Milan (see Milan's Malpensa Airport Prepares for RFID Baggage Handling).

Although the Gatecaller project is currently in a demonstration phase, Paulin Hansen expects versions of the system to eventually be implemented at Copenhagen and other airports. "Every medium and large airport would like to have a system like this one," he states. "If we can document the effect of being able to cut down the number of delayed flights, or we can have passengers paying for this service, then I think we have a very interesting business model."