Background

 

The solutions are based on the fact that 15% of all passengers have mobile phones which can be tracked by our network of readers via Bluetooth. This number is calculated by comparing data collected from our live airport installation with passenger data from the airports. In an airport with 20 M annual passengers this corresponds to tracking more than 8000 passengers on a daily basis.

Any Bluetooth Id has a unique id.
The reading process is non-intrusive and requires no active participation or action by end users.
Privacy is not be concerned because the Bluetooth Id cannot be related to any personal information.

Alternatives

It’s also possible to build passenger tracking solutions based on RFID, GSM sniffing or Video.
RFID requires tags to be distributed, and the reading distance is too short for tracking in the public.
GSM sniffing is expensive, and its only possible to position a phone every 6 minute. This implies it’s impossible to measure queue times, or follow user flows accurately.
Video based solution could be applied to measure a length of a queue, but not the queue time. Video cannot be use to track a massive number of passengers throughout an airport.

Bluetooth has neither of these shortcomings.
•    15 % of the passengers has a Bluetooth trackable phone
•    The phones can be positioned accurately
•    Users can be followed throughout the airport, even followed visit after visit.