As a member of facilities management in an airport, you know a thing or two about crowds and working with (and around!) people. And you know there’s nothing worse than the dreaded crowd bottleneck on a busy day.
Escalators and walkways are crucial to airport operations in that they simply move people from one place to another quickly and efficiently. Passengers late for a flight can use the moving walkways to make it to their gate and those who don’t want to wait for the elevator or drag their carry-on baggage up a staircase can simply take the escalator.
But when one of these important people movers breaks down and lots of passengers are walking through, you can end up with an impatient, angry, and bottlenecked crowd!
To keep things running smoothly, it’s necessary to keep an eye on operations at all times. As airports modernize with new technologies, the best way to do this is to install sensors in your mechanical equipment (such as walkways and escalators) within all the moving parts.
Motors that overheat or start to shake indicate a larger, potentially serious mechanical failure. Sensors can monitor motors conditions, allowing personnel to discover these problems before they grow into a full breakdown.
Sensors can detect temperature, humidity, and motion. Installing sensors in the bottom of moving walkways can also detect fluid leaks. Combined, they help detect premature mechanical failures.
It’s always best when staff catches and checks mechanical failures early. Then facilities managers can reroute traffic and immediately mobilize staff to fix the problem. They can also close off the area and fix it at night instead of at peak traffic.
With sensors, any measures you take are preventative. That way you can devise a new solution and fix the failure at a time that’s more convenient. You also won’t have to deploy maintenance personnel to constantly check up on mechanical operations and check for potential breakage. This can allow you to save labor and parts costs
The valuable information collected by sensors allows you to be agile and future-leaning. You can detect torn belts before they break and sense misalignment on belts before it becomes a problem.
At Embedded Planet, if we can sense it, we can put it into the cloud. All information collected by our sensors is collected in our Gateway. The Gateway is a database in the airport command center that analyzes the information gathered in order to make sense of it and put out any necessary alerts to facilities personnel.
Data gathering is a hugely important tool in airport operations. Connecting the airport to the cloud allows you to make smarter decisions on a broader level and save time, effort, and money in the long run. At Embedded Planet, we’re proud to keep airports across the nation up and running using modern technology.
