Blickfeld LiDAR technology detects passenger flows for efficient queue management
Every year, almost 70 million people fly out of Frankfurt Airport, a large proportion of them from Terminal 1. To avoid lengthy waiting times at the security checkpoints, passenger volumes and movements in the check-in hall are detected and analyzed. This people counting technology allows the staffing of the security checkpoints lanes to be adapted to the actual passenger traffic.
So far, the airport operator Fraport has used a tool that predicts passenger flow in the terminal based on planning data. Short-term rebookings or no-shows could not be considered.
To make the prediction more precise, Fraport looked for a sensor solution that could provide real-time data to calculate the location and number of people arriving at checkpoints, such as the security check. This would allow staffing adapted to the actual passenger traffic and cut down long waiting times.
The Blickfeld LiDAR caught a hug goodbye in the point cloud at Frankfurt Airport.
Forecasting the passenger volumes at the security check required passenger counting and the analysis of the number of people moving in all directions within the airport hall.
Fraport achieved this by installing six Blickfeld LiDAR sensors in hall A of Terminal 1 to provide an overview of the entry and exit zones as well as parts of the check-in and the waiting area in front of the security checkpoint.
Using Blickfeld Percept for this passenger flow monitoring system, several virtual zones were set up within the point clouds. Visitors passing through a zone were counted with respect to the direction of their entry into the zone, along with analysis of the direction of their movement.
In an additional queue management project, Blickfeld sensors will be used at Frankfurt Airport to detect queues and measure waiting times, as well as to analyze the occupancy level in one of the areas in front of the security check.
In the future, the technology could also be used in the retail sector to detect the most frequently visited shops at the airport, and the occupancy rates can be analyzed to minimize queues.
