E. Anthony Incorvati, Business Development Manager, Transportation, North & Central America, Axis Communications looks at how airports are embracing new technologies, such as Private Cellular Networks, to meet current and future challenges.
While passengers may grumble about long security lines and TSA screenings, the truth is that airport security has come a long way over the past few decades.
Gone are the days of security personnel manually monitoring hundreds of wall monitors to search for illicit activity.
Today’s AI-powered analytics can automatically detect suspicious activity and issue real-time alerts to security personnel, improving the speed and accuracy of incident detection.
These capabilities have revolutionized the way airports approach security, serving as an effective force multiplier that allows teams to focus on verified incidents rather than constant manual monitoring.
Equally important to security, advanced video analytics are being used for operations and business intelligence purposes as well, helping streamline the traveler experience and provide valuable insights for airport vendors.
Today’s video intelligence systems touch nearly every aspect of airport operations, serving as a critical resource to security teams, business managers, airline crews and countless others.
But modern video systems share one thing in common: they all rely on connectivity. Today’s IP sensors – whether they are cameras, audio sensors or other devices – are highly integrated and without reliable connectivity, they simply won’t work.
For most businesses this isn’t an issue, but airports often span dozens of square miles, and establishing a strong and consistent signal across such a wide area can be a serious challenge.
As a result, many airports are setting aside traditional cable and WiFi solutions in favor of an increasingly popular alternative: private cellular networks (PCNs).
Before boarding a flight, your typical passenger has to journey through the airport road system, parking, ticketing counters, TSA checkpoints and security screenings, plus other secure areas – but these are just the tip of the iceberg.
While there are certainly challenges associated with securing terminals, concourses and other common areas, security teams have several advantages.
These spaces are typically well lit, with clear sightlines and good visibility. They also have a decent level of connectivity. Running cable or establishing a WiFi connection within an airport terminal has historically been the connectivity approach. Â
But those bustling indoor spaces represent just a fraction of the area security teams need to cover. Southwest Florida International Airport spans 21.2 square miles.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport spans 26.97 square miles. And Denver International Airport, the largest airport in the US, covers a whopping 52.39 square miles.
These are sprawling locations with enormous perimeters and challenging remote locations, and security teams need to provide coverage over every square inch.
If a trespasser is approaching a hangar in a distant corner of the airport, security needs to know about it. If someone is behaving erratically in a parking garage, security needs to know about that, too.
It’s a particularly difficult challenge to address at a time when passenger counts are rising sharply, up 6.1% over last year’s numbers.
Couple that with the wave of terminal expansions and infrastructure growth of the past several years, and it’s clear that airports now need to secure a greater number of passengers over a much wider area – often without a corresponding increase in resources.
That means it’s essential for security and operations teams to make the most of the technology they have while identifying ways to expand their coverage in more budget friendly ways.
Modern devices equipped with computer vision capabilities can improve the efficiency and accuracy of security operations – but deploying those devices starts with establishing the necessary level of connectivity.
In the past, deploying devices around the perimeter of an airport would require trenching cable across dozens of miles. While technically possible, doing so would never justify the resulting cost and disruption.
WiFi connectivity would require (slightly) less cabling, but a PCN is more suited for mission-critical, large-scale and mobile operations.
Airports are increasingly treating private cellular as a utility-grade wireless layer, while WiFi remains a best-effort access network for passengers and light enterprise use.
And while commercial cellular networks can sometimes provide the required level of connectivity, they come with drawbacks of their own.
Because commercial options are not designed to serve specific properties, they can still leave areas with poor connectivity. Additionally, the subscription model favored by commercial networks can create long-term budgetary challenges.
PCNs, on the other hand, are designed by a communications systems integrator to serve the specific needs of the property, which means they can guarantee coverage throughout every area of the airport and its grounds.
These private networks also provide a significant cybersecurity advantage.
By maintaining greater control over the network and its infrastructure, airport IT teams can ensure they are taking the necessary steps to maintain an appropriate level of cybersecurity, rather than relying on third parties.
PCNs enable rapid deployment of sensors across the entire property without the need to deploy costly and disruptive infrastructure.
Instead of being confined to concourses and other common areas, security teams can now deploy cameras across the entire grounds, establishing greater visibility into notoriously difficult-to-secure spaces like parking garages, storage areas and fuel farms.
With modern analytics processing video in real-time and automatically identifying anomalous activity, security teams can deploy wherever they are needed in response to verified threats.
In effect, PCNs extend terminal-grade connectivity to the entire airport footprint.
The benefits of a PCN go far beyond security. With consistent connectivity in place, airports can take advantage of computer vision capabilities that can enhance operations in previously unattainable ways.
For example, when a plane taxis to the gate, video devices armed with computer vision can identify and track each step of the process: they can identify when the bridge connects to the plane, when the belt loader is connected, how long it takes to offload cargo and when the fuel truck, lavatory truck and catering services arrive and depart.
For these events and more, computer vision can create a visual time stamp for each step in the process.
This adds valuable structured data which can be analyzed and coupled with airport operational databases to paint a deep picture of what is going on during aircraft turn management.
By correlating data across dates, times and locations, airport and airline managers can identify patterns and trends that may be negatively impacting the passenger experience.
If there are systemic problems causing aircraft to consistently fall behind schedule, this level of analysis can clearly identify them.
Computer vision can also identify choke points and bottlenecks that may be slowing foot traffic or ground transportation, helping to improve efficiency before passengers even set foot inside.
Businesses, too, can see real benefits from computer vision capabilities.
Vendors and property managers want actionable data regarding their tenant stores, such as when they open and close, whether they are serving customers on time and more.
Computer vision can enable them to identify if a store consistently opens late, has unmanageably long lines or leaves customers unaided or unattended.
These insights allow operators to make targeted adjustments, prompting stores to alter their hours, make staffing changes or update their policies to better serve their customers.
Connectivity has traditionally been a challenge for airports, but private cellular networks are quickly making that problem a thing of the past.
By enabling secure, enhanced connectivity across the entire property, PCNs are allowing airports to deploy connected devices in areas never before possible.
Armed with advanced analytics and computer vision capabilities, these devices are making security teams more effective while also driving efficiency gains, operational improvements and a better overall passenger experience.
As video technology continues to advance, connectivity will only become increasingly critical. PCNs provide airports with the reliable service they need to take advantage of new security and operations capabilities both now and into the future.
This article was originally published in the June edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.