Advice for airport facility managers
Around the world, airports face new and ever-changing challenges including a need for strengthened security, increased operational efficiency, and improved passenger experience.
Author: Derek Shearer, Johnson Controls Building Technologies & Solutions
Airports play an increasingly important role in contributing to global productivity and local economies which is why it’s more critical than ever that airport facilities operate at the highest levels of efficiency and reliability. For airport facility managers, meeting the needs of passengers, airlines, service providers, staff, and retail tenants, while striving to achieve a sustainable and commercially viable business, is a complex balancing act.
Add to this, the growing pressure to deliver the optimal experience for travelers in a safe, comfortable, productive and modern airport facility, while at the same time keeping pace with the increased compliance regulations. In the context of global security threats, increasing energy and operational costs, and with international passenger traffic expected to reach 14 billion by 2029, the demands on airport operators and facility managers bring a raft of daily challenges to navigate.
Working with technology to achieve better outcomes
The ever-present goal in an airport environment is to deliver a seamless experience where passengers can check-in, proceed through security with minimal inconvenience, and board their flight on time. The priority for facility managers is to ensure that resources are allocated based on risk and need while ensuring day to day operations run smoothly.
When you consider the sheer number of systems and services required to achieve this goal, incorporating intuitive integrated building technology solutions is an important consideration for today’s airport facility manager.
From way-finding and Wi-Fi to check-in and gate processing, integration of such a vast network of systems is easier said than done. But it is possible to create a smarter and more sustainable airport facility by leveraging intelligent infrastructure, making use of existing technologies while at the same time, keeping abreast of new specialist solutions with advanced capabilities.
Thankfully today’s technological landscape delivers solutions that can assist airport facility managers to maximise space and staff resources, while identifying ways to optimise assets by minimising costs per passenger, reducing queues and waiting times, providing accurate real-time flight updates and other essential communication that contribute to the best possible travel experience for passengers.
Specialised airport-specific solutions
Protecting IT infrastructure is also critical. In order to deliver a ‘smart airport’, it is important that the facility partners with the right team who are able to work with existing legacy systems as well as newly upgraded technology to deliver operational savings and meet energy reduction targets.
Behind the scenes, Johnson Controls works in partnership with airport facility managers and security operations teams to deliver a wide range of specialist solutions for airport security, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), building management systems (BMS), energy management, fire detection and suppression, integrated operations and operational intelligence.
Johnson Controls is a global technology and industrial leader that draws on engineering expertise, deep knowledge and substantial experience to create industry specific systems. This includes smart solutions that work together with other operational systems to deliver an entire framework to address the specific needs of the aviation environment, with operational intelligence platforms that automatically analyse data from multiple sources to keep airport facility operators informed at all times.
Airports rely on a vast network of integrated systems, controls, sensors and field devices tailored specifically for the airport environment. Johnson Controls has developed the only fully integrated security management platform for airports, known as CEM AC2000 Airport.
Australian first for Adelaide Airport
Adelaide Airport and nearby Parafield Airport will be the first in Australia to install the CEM AC2000 Airport access control system, which is used by the world’s leading airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick airports in the United Kingdom and airports in Hong Kong, Dubai, Vancouver, New Zealand and India.
In an environment where security is of paramount importance, the CEM AC2000 Airport platform is the only airport specific access control system designed to run check-in desk enabling, passenger segregation and air-bridge control functionalities more cost and time effectively than previously possible.
The CEM AC2000 provides high levels of integration, with one powerful command and control front-end for alarm management of multiple airport security systems; including access control, video, intrusion, fire, perimeter detection and much more. It features advanced systems that adhere to and support the stringent security, health and safety requirements of the aviation environment.
When installed as part of the new Adelaide Airport terminal expansion project, the system will be supported by the installation of CCTV and a host of additional functions that have been specifically designed for the Adelaide site including card charging, authorisers, airport utilities and IATA code integration.
Tighter security throughout the entire airport
Keeping an airport facility completely secure is a carefully planned logistical feat involving a network of digital video camera for CCTV surveillance, evidential recording and replay capabilities featuring self-learning video analytics to help protect the entire site. Ground radar, fence alarms, and thermal cameras all form part of the broader airport perimeter intrusion detection strategy. In addition to intruder detection, vehicle management, monitoring queues, overseeing x-ray scanners and baggage screening, and even the capability to detect abandoned bags, all form part of the airport security strategy.
Behind the scenes in the security control room, intruder detection systems are able to respond instantly in the event of a security breach, supporting the security operations team with the ability to dispatch resources as and when needed to help keep the airport safe at all times.
Security teams are also responsible for vehicle management at all access points, making automatic number plate recognition technology imperative for tracking vehicle movement within the confines of the airport.
Access control using smart cards, biometrics, touch-screen readers can provide restricted access to boarding gates, elevator doors, airbridges and monitor automatic gate controls. Combined with counting technology to monitor retail areas, the latest security technology will free up security personnel to attend areas where they are needed most.
Sustainable and efficient energy management reduces operational costs
As the community at large moves toward more sustainable practices, airports have come under a higher level of scrutiny. Smart building and energy management systems make it possible to identify opportunities that can deliver significant operational cost and energy savings.
State of the art HVAC systems keep the airport environment comfortable through a sophisticated algorithm, ensuring the facility’s chillers respond instantaneously to changes in the external weather conditions, and the internal environment. A hyper efficient and central utility plant will generate significantly less electricity output and reduce carbon gas emissions.
Building Management Systems (BMS) monitor and facilitate preventative maintenance capabilities, with 24/7 backup service and a host of other specialist offerings.
Fire detection and suppression
With aircraft fuels and other highly combustible substances commonly used, fire, smoke and gas detection and protection equipment, including sprinklers and suppression solutions, incident management and voice alarms are mandatory legal requirements in the highly regulated confines of an airport facility. It is essential that legal obligations are met, and is possible to do so in sustainable ways using clean-agent fire suppression solutions. Regular testing of fire extinguishers, digital addressable fire panels, water distribution controls and pumps is also essential.
Entire facility systems designed to deliver a seamless air travel experience
Big data analysis and reporting is just one of many ways that information technology is changing airport facility management, with predictive intelligence paving the way of the future. Intuitive communication mechanisms are crucial to the operational success within the airport environment; from passenger information to operational intelligence, the reliance on wireless networks, radio systems, public address, digital signage and passenger help points are essential interconnected elements that are crucial to keeping the airport running smoothly.
Johnson Controls ethos is that you need to measure in order to improve, and this analogy reigns true in an airport environment where interconnectivity and automation is the key. With a depth of technology behind the building controls unit, mechanical equipment, video surveillance and fire equipment, Johnson Controls works closely with airport facility managers to identify opportunities for genuine savings, keeping operational costs down.
To learn more, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com/digital.
