Page 14 - Security Today, January/February 2022

A Power User
How AI and deep learning are making airport operations an IP camera heavyweight
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, the Trans- portation Security Ad- ministration (TSA) screened 2.24 million airline passengers in a single day. It was the highest number of people processed through checkpoints since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, according to international news agency Reuters. (By comparison, on the Friday before Thanksgiving 2020, TSA screened just 984,369 passengers.)
Experts believe it was an indication of things to come. While increased air travel during the holidays is normal, the bigger news is that the transportation industry anticipates a substantial increase in air travel in the coming years. The Interna- tional Air Transport Association (IATA), prior to the pandemic, said current trends suggest passenger numbers could double to 8.2 billion air travelers in 2037.
Certainly, the aftermath of COVID-19 caused the number of travelers to plunge downward; however, passenger loads are once again on the rise. Along with this significant increase in volume comes chal- lenges that go well beyond health and safety compliance requirements, such as mask wearing.
In fact, the No. 1 issue faced by airports prior to the pandemic was capacity and as passenger counts ramp up, this issue is coming right back in focus. Airport ex- pansions are few, and far between. When they do happen, they can take decades and cost billions of dollars, such as the O’Hare Airport expansion that cost $6 billion and took 16 years to complete.
The Role of Technology
Instead of building new terminals or ex- panding existing ones to accommodate a greater volume of travelers, airports and airlines are looking to technology for an- swers. Given the rising number of airline customers, they are asking how technology use to ease capacity constraints at airport terminals — a factor that directly affects the passenger experience. A passenger who has
a pleasant experience at an airport, from curb to gate, is more likely to stay engaged with air travel as a mode of transportation and to develop an affinity for their airlines.
In addition, happy passengers may enrich non-aviation revenue streams by spending more money at airport shops and eateries, which in turn helps airports secure new tenants and other vendors.
Not surprisingly, advancements in surveillance technology play a huge role. Today’s high-performance IP cameras have powerful processing, which enables analytics based on artificial intelligence
(AI) and deep learning at the edge. This means that although surveillance cameras are still very much part of the security fabric at airports, they are increasingly being used in a larger way by acting as IoT sensors that collect and analyze data. In these types of applications, they assist airports and airlines with optimizing their operations, maintenance and even marketing.
The Public Side
On the “public side” of an airport or better known as “Public Area Security,” includes the facilities outside of and up to and in-
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