What's new in Ubiquitous Helsinki-Vantaa project?

Ubiquitous Helsinki-Vantaa is the first development project of Airport Cluster Finland. The project aims to support Helsinki Airport’s position and further development as a world’s top class hub-airport. The project was launched in May 2010 and it includes two different pilots; the first pilot includes the development of safety and operation models in Helsinki Airport apron area with the use of wireless identification and censoring. The second pilot will focus on controlling and optimizing of passenger flow in Helsinki Airport by using RFID and wireless data sharing technologies.

Pilot 1 includes two different phases; tracking of vehicles and monitoring the use of weapons in the apron area. The system supplier for the first phase has been selected and the implementation work has been done. The tracking system of Controlmatic Oy has been installed to 10 airport buses in order to monitor the use of buses at the apron area. The real-time tracking system improves utilization of the buses and helps to keep track if buses are available or not. The tracking system also alerts if the vehicle enters the runway area. The data collected by the system can be used to allocate the resources efficiently and to avoid unnecessary investments. The second phase of the pilot 1 will focus on monitoring and tracking of weapons that are used in apron area by maintenance staff. This case is still open for tenders.

The pilot 2 aims to study and enhance Helsinki Airport’s passenger flows, develop personalized passenger services by using wireless identification and data collection technologies. The main target is to create an informative, electronic card with ultra-thin display. These cards will be allocated to transfer-passengers at Helsinki Airport in order to deliver personalized and real-time flight data, e.g. the gate number and the time of departure. The passenger is also alerted with a sound if there are any changes in the flight data. The card also tells with user’s own language how much time there is available before departure and what the distance to the gate is from the current location.

Tekes funded project Ubiquitous Helsinki-Vantaa project will be carried out during May 2010 – October 2011 in collaboration with Finavia. The project will be executed by Vantaa Innovation Institute in cooperation with RFIDLab Finland and Metropolia University of Applied Science.

From the beginning of February the project is managed by Risto Arttola as Toni Kannusmäki will face new challenged in the world of aviation. Mr Arttola was previously responsible of the technical issues in the project.

Contact information:

Project Manager Risto Arttola
risto.arttola(at)airportcluster.fi, Tel. +358 400 337 924

www.airportcluster.fi
www.vantaainnovation.fi
www.electria.fi
www.metropolia.fi
www.finavia.fi
www.controlatic.fi
www.agaidi.com

By Minna Niskanen, 9.2.2011 13:07