Taxi Queue

But how do airport sensor systems manage taxi queue overloading?

Anybody who has ever queued in a long, never-ending taxi queue at the airports or dragged through a never-ending queue at custom can tell you that sometimes it's half the story to know how long it takes to be there. While BLIP Systems' Danish BlipTrack may never be able to move airlines quickly enough for some travelers, the rapid, real-time views and easy-to-interpret visualised information that BlipTrack provides to interest groups in various industries around the world are already altering the way end-users and policymakers think about things like journey timing, queuing and flows.

BlipTrack was introduced in 2007 and monitors and forecasts the motion of persons and cars at aerodromes, railway terminals, skiing areas, theme park and more and is currently used at more than 25 major global aerodromes such as Toronto Pearson, Dubai, Schiphol Amsterdam and New York JFK. Recently, BlipTrack's cutting-edge street transport technologies have also helped reduce jams in a number of cities around the globe, and for nearly a year, BlipTrack's sensor systems have been identifying taxi shortages at the United States' most congested rural singles highway airport:

International San Diego International Airports (SAN). BlipTrack uses sensor technology at the entry and departure points of the taxi line to detect and register Wi-Fi or Bluetooth smartphone and tablet signal when taxi passengers board and disembark. Gathered information will then be analysed to enhance the taxi cabin's efficiency and to evaluate timetable failures and taxi dispositions.

"Boenitz added, "The sensor and associated information have significantly improved our levels of after sales support and our capability to plan cabs to be available when needed. Although the use of sensor technology to recognize cordless signal from passengers' portable equipment may cause some travellers to have reservations about personal safety and/or information safety, Christian Bugislaus Carstens, Head of Global Markets at BLIP Systems, says BlipTrack also covers this.

"It only stamps the unambiguous ID (MAC address) of each unit and does not collect personally identifiable information. Carstens explained, "The unambiguous ID of the devices is also encoded in the reader so that it is not possible to subsequently recognize the devices. The JFK airport and Brussels airport have also opted for the system to increase their taxi stand capacity, Carstens said.

After having been in his right portion of tormentingly long queues at airport, the managing director of BLIP Systems says he knows only too well the importance of precision in waiting times. Carstens says that BlipTrack is just getting warm when it comes to the next applications of portable equipment sensing technologies.