Infrastructure Upgrades From Siemens Making Airports Cleaner and Greener

At this year’s inter airport Europe in Munich from October 6–9, 2009, Siemens will present itself under the slogan “Green and Efficient Airports”. The company will be showcasing products, solutions and services that help airport and airline managers to meet the ever increasing requirements of modern airport operations. In this context, the focus will be on the efficiency of functional processes, the most important of these being baggage handling, passenger handling, safety and IT integration, as well as energy and building management. Efficient, mutually coordinated solutions for airport infrastructure contribute significantly to optimizing the way in which resources are used and energy is consumed on the ground.

Baggage handling

At the inter airport exhibition, Siemens Mobility will be showing its new Sibag Cross system for baggage sorting. This hybrid tray solution is a combination of container system and cross-belt conveyor. Sibag Cross combines the advantages of speedy but careful individual transport with a space-saving approach to baggage sorting. Cross-belt sorters have been used successfully in distribution logistics for a long time, but Siemens is now offering this tried-and-tested technology in the area of airports as well. Sibag Cross can be used to transport and sort normal and outsized baggage in a single system. Transport elements such as top loaders or tilting trays are no longer needed. Whereas baggage items up to now have been carried to their destination with the help of interlinked systems such as tilt tray sorters, Sibag Cross now makes individual transport possible with so-called active trays. The Sibag Cross system is not only economically efficient for large installations but also advantageous for smaller airports with sorting arrangements of a lower magnitude.

With its Simatic RBS (RFID Baggage System), Siemens Industry Automation presents a system range which ensures efficient baggage identification and is specially designed to meet airport baggage handling requirements, by increasing the overall read rate. The new Simatic RBS9001 system combines RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) with laser technology to offer reliable detection of bags that are provided with a modern RFID tag or conventional barcode. This simplifies in particular the step-by-step changeover from barcode to RFID-based baggage identification. The airport operator is therefore able to change his logistic processes over to RFID without interrupting ongoing operations, even if barcoded bags continue to arrive, for example, from other airports. The combined read technique jointly developed with Datalogic Automation, is also suitable for the retrofitting of existing barcode systems, such as Datalogic ATRs, with the more efficient RFID technology.

Passenger handling, safety, IT integration

Siemens IT Solutions and Services will also be presenting “SiPAX” (Siemens passenger solution), a holistic, modular solution which, for the first time, enables airports to offer passengers a complete information service covering everything a passenger needs to know, for example from booking a flight up to knowing the right take-off time, thus ensuring rapid check-in and boarding procedures. The “Airport Integration Platform” is the central information hub and makes it possible for individual airlines to exchange data with each other. The system facilitates adherence to flight timetables and cuts the number of delayed departures to a minimum.

The “mobile check-in” component allows passengers to use their cell phone to check-in conveniently and in the same way, whatever the airline.

The “biometric passenger process” module uses biometric characteristics such as fingerprints to identify passengers quickly and reliably. In addition, the solution can be used during check-in, boarding and border-control procedures. The “Location-based Services” give airline companies information as to where a passenger is currently located in the airport. The handling personnel can then send a personal paging message to that passenger’s cell phone in good time before take-off.

Energy and building management

The Siemens Industry Solutions Division will be introducing solutions for fluid, distribution and airport tank farms. The portfolio ranges from design and installation to commissioning of the installations. This is supplemented with complete maintenance services, including corrective maintenance and logistics support with regard to spare parts or repairs. Due to the use of standardized and modular technology, only minor adaptations to the special features of the respective location are necessary. This leads to considerably shorter implementation times.

The Carfinder from Siemens Mobility makes it possible to find a parked car again quickly and easily. It is especially suitable for the kinds of large multi-storey parking garages often found at airports. The license plate is registered by video when the car enters a level and drives into the selected area of the parking facility. On returning to collect the vehicle, the driver either inserts the parking stub into a reader or enters the license plate number via a touchscreen. The computer then displays a 3D graphic to show the driver exactly where the vehicle is parked.

Building operators and passengers can obtain information on the airport’s energy consumption from the Green Building Monitor, an innovative solution from Siemens Building Technologies. At the same time, it is possible to keep track of how consumption has changed compared to a previous point in time as a result of energy-saving measures.

In the field of security systems, Siemens Building Technologies will be highlighting its “Siveillance ELS Vantage” management solution and its “SiteIQ” intelligent video monitoring system. Both will demonstrate how security can be ensured reliably and efficiently in a modern airport. When it comes to fire safety, the spotlight will be on the Sinorix family of products offering tailor-made fire extinguishing solutions for different applications.