According to reports, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Resolution 753 will enter into force in June 2018. This resolution requires airlines to track each piece of passenger's baggage throughout the journey to significantly reduce the number of baggage errors and shipping errors. But the tracking process may generate a lot of new data, and the International Aeronautics and Telecommunications Group (SITA) said in a new report that artificial intelligence tools such as machine learning, robotics and predictive analytics can process this data more efficiently.
In the future, connected smart devices and applications can report baggage movements with each other with little human intervention.
Over the past 10 years, the air transport industry has reduced the cost of baggage handling errors from $4.22 billion to $2.1 billion through the adoption of new technologies and streamlined processes.
The goal of resolution IATA 753 is to further reduce this number to make the passenger experience better and at the same time burden the airline.
The baggage tracking system begins with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. Because RFID tags are relatively easy to install, relatively low cost, and resistant to wear, they are widely recognized as the most reliable unique identifier for single piece of baggage transport.
In 2008, Hong Kong International Airport became the world's first international airport to adopt RFID technology in baggage handling systems, and was the first airport to incorporate RFID readers into automated baggage handling systems.
In the report, Chris Au Young, general manager of the Hong Kong Airport Authority's Intelligent Airport, said RFID technology has greatly improved the accuracy of baggage tracking and explained how artificial intelligence can make the tracking process more efficient.
“The successful reading rate of our luggage tag (combined with the barcode of the RFID chip) is close to 99%. Before adopting RFID technology, the reading success rate of the traditional bar code label is only about 80%. The Hong Kong International Airport processes about 80,000 pieces of baggage every day. In the peak season, nearly 110,000 pieces of luggage are handled every day, so the difference is huge."
“Now, we use RFID technology in all processes of baggage handling, which improves operational efficiency and safety and provides a better experience for passengers.”
“We also developed a cart management system that uses machine learning technology, image-based technology and existing surveillance cameras to monitor the availability of carts at a certain point. Our airport has more than 12,000 carts per day. In the terminal, traffic center and more than 100 carts, it is a challenge to ensure that the cart is always available. But our real-time cart supply monitoring system has a precision of 92%, greatly reduced The need for manual inspection also increases the level of cart service."
“With artificial intelligence, end-to-end baggage tracking can be more complete. The artificial intelligence-driven video analysis system can be traced from the baggage shipping container next to the aircraft to the baggage handling hall, allowing passengers to know more accurate baggage transfer information. We see There are many opportunities to use artificial intelligence to further optimize the baggage tracking system and make it part of the future airport operating standards."