b'INFO TECHNOLOGYSEA 35When you look out the window onto the airfield, theres aWith a veritable fire hose of information at flurry of activity with airplanes and vehicles moving around, saystheir fingertips, teams at SEA have to decide Toerber. We make assumptions about what can tell a story withhow to disseminate. Jason Aspelund, manager this information and improve overall safety and efficiency.of Strategic Performance for Alaska Airlines, The platform utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learningreports that his team is most excited to use to enable SEA personnel to see operations in real time, andAssaia, the turn management and vehicle provides reports on aircraft tracking, ground vehicle movements,tracking components of the airports new bird activity, foreign object debris and other key information.system based on video analytics capabilities.JASON ASPELUNDToerber notes that this reduces the number of calls that areWe can utilize the cameras to advise our required between individual airport departments. Camera viewsturn coordinators, says Aspelund. For example, if a catering truck allow personnel to zoom in on gates and see color-coded virtualis late to the gate, well get an alert that it is not where it needs to representations of each aircraft. The Aerobahn system also actsbe, and the system prompts that conversation. It will also send an as its own search engine, enabling staff to drill down into the dataalert to catering so they also know when theyre not on schedule.each department needs.If input sources indicate that a flight is running late, the system The real power comes from the Saabwill generate a predictive off-block time. This allows the team more platforms ability to integrate and fuse datanotice to make accommodations for the gate, staffing, holding of from numerous sources and present it topassengers, and so on.decision makers in a useful way, says ErikIt gives us an opportunity to offer better customer service, Smith, president and chief executive officerAspelund summarizes. Plus, we have SLAs [service level of Saab, Inc. The community of users canagreements] with our business partners, and we can see if the SLA then use the data to optimize each of theiris not being met. Were all working from the same sheet of music, operations and improve the passengerERIK SMITH and it saves us from having wasted resources and improves our experience for everyone flying through Seattle- people management.Tacoma International Airport.The goal for the Port of Seattle is to train atArgus_PrintR5.pdf 1 4/8/19 7:06 AMleast 200 users on the platform. More users mean more collaboration and ultimately better efficiency at SEA, adds Aerobahn Business Segment Director Dan London. From the airports perspective, the system eliminates guesswork. We can see why and when something happened, Tirhi explains.DAN LONDONAnd we use reporting data to parse it out to see airlines, gates and so on.After the system is fully implemented at SEA, London says it will be the most sophisticated operation of its kind at any U.S. airport.CHarnessing Data MWhat might seem like a great outcome for passengersarrivingYearly, for examplecan complicate already complex gateCMassignments and crew allocation for airport operators. MYWithin its surface management system, SEA can employCYdynamic rules. Each user can create custom guidelines that alleviate some work in areas that require human intervention. ForCMYinstance, the system predicts potential gate conflicts and helpsKoperations personnel proactively make gate changes so aircraft dont have to sit and waitwhich also affects ground personnel, baggage systems and more. While many airports have surface management systems, SEAs system is more comprehensive than most. London says that the Aerobahn system already in place was providing a robust database for operations, but incorporating additional integrations and video analytics further enhanced its breadth and complexity. AirportImprovement.comJanuary | February 2022'