London to create airport of the future

Should they succeed, missing luggage, delayed flights and long security lines will be irritations of another era. Even wading through a sea of taxi drivers to find the cardboard placard that bears your name will be a thing of the past.

This streamlined experience is being delivered with the help of a technology known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Essentially, it is an overarching platform that allows a variety of devices or machines to communicate with each other.

This "machine to machine" communication (M2M) remains in its early stages, but its application is being tested in a number of areas. It is the foundation for "smart cars", vehicles which are tuned in to avoid collision, and "smart lights", which detect when you've woken up and then turn on.

London City Airport is the first airport in the world to test it in the field of commercial aviation.

Technology company Living PlanIt and retail developer Milligan will lead the project backed by the UK's Technology Strategy Board. Over the next year, the airport will integrate different technologies to provide a taster of what's possible, Kazinform quotes CNN.

Many of the more advanced features involve tracking passengers through a mix of face recognition and crowd-sourcing software that already exists in airports, plus the GPS that is already available in smart devices. For instance, a traveler who pre-orders food online or though their smartphone will be able to have it delivered to them as they arrive at the departure lounge.

Full story