Airport security solutions to manage incidents, support the business, and improve security

Drones pose a danger for airport safety and can cause costly disruptions, safety incidents, and potential security breaches. At the same time, the risk of a drone incident is increasing due to the growing number of remote-controlled drones for private use, including video-equipped aerial vehicles. Operators need a visual perspective to assess a threat and determine whether a drone may be carrying cameras or even explosives.

Cameras installed along the airport perimeter fence can be integrated with radar technology. When radar is triggered, the software relays the three-dimensional coordinates to the closest ground-mounted security camera, which confirms whether the object is a drone, and in such cases, keeps tracking its course. The video equipment is already integrated with multiple drone detection systems. Integrating airside safety solutions with perimeter security is not only more effective but more cost-efficient as well.

If a fire breaks out, it must be detected before it spreads. Smoke detectors are normally installed on ceilings. If a fire breaks out at floor level, they are only able to detect smoke and flames once it reaches the ceiling, thereby slowing reaction time. The AVIOTEC camera series, on the other hand, identifies fires using video at the source within 30 seconds. This offers a decisive time advantage that prevents greater damage from occurring. The solution’s usability is not affected by ceiling height, making it particularly well-suited to terminal halls or hangars.

A video fire detection system uses cameras with intelligent algorithms to identify smoke and flames at the earliest stage while correctly distinguishing them from other disturbances. If the algorithm of the camera detects flames or smoke, an alarm is immediately triggered. The location of the incident is then pinpointed in the control room. This provides time-critical information staff needs to react. Visual fire detection helps prevent loss of life, averts crowd panic, and reduces disruptions of runway operations.

Airports are environments with loud ambient noise, in which unclear announcements confuse passengers or are simply not heard. This leads to stress and costly interruptions, such as passengers arriving late to their gates because they could not hear an updated gate flight information or their names being called.

Public Address (PA) solutions are available to make announcements both terminal-wide and within specific areas. Active speakers cover a range up to 50 meters, while beam steering devices precisely insonify an area of just a few square meters in front of a gate.
The systems are flexible and increase/decrease sound levels in environments with loud/low ambient noise, provide control over a small and very specific area or can also address the full airport if necessary. Travelers know exactly when and at what gate their flight is leaving. Providing travelers with clear information on last minute changes with targeted messaging in a silent airport concept creates order in the chaos and putts people at ease and makes them feel safe. In emergencies, automatic warnings and announcements can help defuse tense situations. A reliable, public address system is therefore essential for clear announcements and improves the passenger’s experience.

If an emergency breaks out at an airport, large crowds could become hard to control. If panic arises in a crowd, the danger exponentially increases. In case of an emergency the voice alarm system sends out prerecorded messages in multiple languages, thereby helping to manage the flow of people and ensure a safe evacuation—even in noisy terminal halls.

These threats will always occur in a certain area. In all situations, the most efficient way to evacuate is via phased evacuation. The most urgent priority areas are therefore evacuated first.

In case the emergency is a fire, certified integration of fire alarm and voice alarm is needed. This integration often has complex cable networks that do not allow operators to customize verification times for defined areas. This could lead to unnecessary evacuations, because operators were not quick enough to identify a false alarm. The ideal solution is a shift from a hardwired to an IP-based connection between the fire alarm and evacuation system. Verification times can be set up according to walking distance, with operators able to confirm alarms on mobile devices rather than on the fire panel. This can help to reduce false alarms and ensure maximum system availability.

The airfield is one of an airport’s most sensitive areas. Incidents and disruptions that happen here can be damaging and expensive. Monitoring airside movements with intelligent cameras helps to monitor and record airside safety incidents. They offer a wide field of view, monitor the live traffic day and night, and enable a level of visibility beyond that of the human eye.

Smart video solutions provide operators with augmented reality information, such as gate numbers or building names, that improves their situational awareness. Cameras constantly scan the runway and follow objects automatically, monitoring planes from landing to their next takeoff. Cameras with an overview of the airfield use a low-resolution stream but switch to high resolution when zooming in to provide fine details to the operator’s screen. High quality camera images can be stitched together to cover large open areas at the apron, taxiway, or runway.

The parking lot is the first service touch point passengers encounter at an airport; their customer journey begins here. By taking a data-driven approach, airports can improve their parking services, thereby optimizing the passenger experience and increasing their revenues.

Cameras equipped with video-analytics algorithms recognize unoccupied parking spots reliably. This data can be transferred to a service that informs passengers of available spaces. At the same time, the cameras maintain the security of vehicles in the area using surveillance, which detects such unwanted events as loitering car thieves, wrong-way driving, objects left behind, and congestion. The data coming from the cameras not only alerts the operator but can also be used to gain broader insight: data collected over the long term can identify risks like unsafe locations in the parking deck and then apply counter measures, such as improved illumination or security patrols.

When airlines question invoices for gate occupancy times, it can lead to long discussions. Camera-oriented solutions provide footage for clarification in such situations.

Intelligent cameras installed at the gate use video analytics to capture time stamps of aircrafts docking and undocking at the gate bridge. By adding a layer of metadata to video images, occupancy rates and processing times can be tracked and optimized.
Safety and security incidents are also recorded for investigation and hindsight. Moreover, the display feature of historical data can be used to plan the schedule of security personnel more precisely.