Hyderabad international airport goes smart with India's first IoT-enabled smart trolleys

The airport has deployed LoRa (long range) IoT (Internet of things) platform for the Airport Baggage Trolley Project. The entire fleet of 3,000 baggage trolleys has been enabled with IoT technology. With this technology in place, there will be a substantial reduction in the waiting time of passengers for baggage trolleys and will ensure its availability in sufficient numbers. Trolley management and replenishment will be based on the requirement at various areas across the airport enhancing efficiency and passenger experience while making way for smooth operations as well.

Why smart baggage trolleys?

There are two critical zones where the availability of trolleys for passengers is vital – departures ramp and baggage belts at the arrivals. As per the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global organisation supporting aviation with global standards for airline safety, security, efficiency, and sustainability, there should be at least 160 trolleys available for one million passengers at any airport.

The smart baggage trolley management will address challenges of trolley retrieval and replenishment by locating trolleys at the right time and at the right spot. It also helps tackle the theft of trolleys and empowers the airport to meet passenger requirements on a real-time basis.

Benefits of the smart trolley system

The smart trolley management system has the capability to plan baggage trolleys according to the predictive analyses of estimated departure and arrival passenger loads. It preps the operations team with proactive planning with real-time dashboards/information on the availability of the number of baggage trolleys in different airport areas, ensuring its availability for the passengers at the right place and the right time. It gives ease of accessing data as it is compatible on mobile, desktop, and laptop making it user-friendly.

With an inbuilt alert mechanism, in case any trolley is carried out of the "no airport zone" area, it generates an alert message tipping off the location for necessary action which can then be taken to retrieve it.

S.G.K Kishore, the ED (south) and chief innovation officer of GMR Airports, said, "The Hyderabad international airport has been the flag bearer of innovation and technology in many ways and has pioneered many innovative digital solutions to scale up our service and operational excellence. After successful marquee projects like domestic and international e-boarding and face recognition trials, we are revolutionising the way baggage trolleys are managed with the adoption of IoT as a smart and intelligent solution to help enhance passenger experience and also enable smooth operations and inventory management. The smart baggage trolley system is one of the many initiatives as part of our digital excellence transformation and journey."