Tim Hudson
Aviation Practice Area Leader – Gensler
There is plenty of discussion in the media, and amongst friends and peers, about what we are learning from COVID-19. Of greater interest is how the “new normal” will impact how we modify or outright change our approach to designing the built environment. Social distancing, crowd management, gloves, hand sanitizers and masks are about minimizing “touch” to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
With that in mind, when travel bans are lifted, how can we best instill confidence in an anxious public? One approach is to develop a strategy for a “touchless” travel experience with QR scanning, near field communication (NFC), biometric facial recognition and thermal scanning technologies. Here’s how these technologies could work.
Biometrics at check-in and boarding
Begin with facial recognition at bag check where your image and traveler profile are instantly confirmed when you scan a boarding pass on your phone. Baggage fees and other transactions would be handled at a kiosk by scanning your phone with payment information before your bag is sent to the plane. From there, you head to the security checkpoint, where facial recognition allows access to the security screening checkpoint, before being cleared to head to your gate.
Once on the secure side of the terminal, the options begin to vary, depending on whether you go to your gate or stop to grab a bite, for example. However, once you arrive at the gate, you can go straight through the boarding process without showing your boarding pass again. This is because your class, boarding position and group are already keyed in through facial recognition, tied to your traveler profile.
Going touchless inside the terminal
Interaction within the airport environment represents a more complex challenge. Food courts and sit-down dining could be a thing of the past, replaced by grab-n-go meals and smartphone payments to minimize interaction with waitstaff or retailers. Passengers would also be encouraged to maintain social distancing while sitting at the gate.
Touchscreen airport maps could shift to voice activation to help travelers avoid swiping or touching a screen. Beacon Technology and indoor maps that pop up on a mobile phone would guide guests through a terminal, to a gate, a favorite concession or restroom, where fixtures and accessories are touch free. But going touch-free might be more challenging for ATMs and bookstores. Retailers may consider a vending machine approach to selling popular items down the line – think Best Buy kiosks or Amazon stores.
Screening for illnesses
On the preventive side of the discussion is thermal fever scanning. It’s a technology that scans a passenger’s body surface to determine if he or she has an elevated temperature or fever, which could indicate a potential infection. A passenger with elevated temperatures would be removed from the general public to avoid creating exposure, where they are then isolated for observation or sent to a treatment center.
While this technology is used in some international airports, there are concerns about the accuracy of the scan. Some technologies can scan a moving object while others require an object to be stationary. That said, biometric camera technology used for facial recognition can also perform temperature scanning. The image captured is only used when a passenger is having his or her temperature checked, no personal data is accessed, and the image immediately discarded if no fever is present. It is a means to reconcile a person’s image against a scan, so they can be readily identified and isolated.
What’s next?
This all sounds good, but is it realistic? There are a few issues to consider – data protection and civil rights. The concept of “safe and touchless” travel crosses many divides, one of those being privacy. A successful roll out of a biometrics program requires consensus and data sharing among airports, airlines and the Department of Homeland Security.
The possibilities surrounding biometric technology are extremely promising, and how these concepts can impact air travel screening and safety is exciting. Sometimes it takes something drastic to push us to figure it out faster, but the great thing is, we do. Airports, airlines and consultants do a good job of working together to develop solutions. For example, airports quickly pivoted to using hospital patient computed tomography (CT) scanning equipment to screen checked baggage following 9/11, and they are still using this technology today, making travel safer.
The current pandemic has impacted so many individuals on a global scale, but we have an opportunity to learn from this experience to deliver the right design solutions with the right technology through industry collaboration. Together, we can develop the road map to a safer, healthier and more seamless journey.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6664287792400515072/
