Smart Airports Research Articles

Leveraging complex network theory to enhance IoT applications in airport management

The tremendous growth in air traffic and passengers has made airports busier than ever before. This change requires airports to become smarter, more responsive and more efficient to create a seamless airport experience. Airports are increasingly adopting a variety of digital technologies to manage and improve airport performance in terms of resource consumption, carbon emissions and overall passenger journey quality. This graduation project explores the concepts of smart airports and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The main objective of the project is to study specific technologies that will have a strong impact on the development of smart airports. The Internet of Things (IoT) technology forms the basis of this project as we believe it is the core technology behind smart airports. By connecting physical assets, equipment, people and applications, IoT plays a vital role in increasing operational efficiency, improving the passenger experience and creating new revenue streams for airports. The project also focuses on the role of specific digital technologies such as blockchain, biometrics, indoor positioning systems, cloud computing and big data in smart airports. The research methodology of the project is based on quantitative literature research with a focus on big data analysis, including white papers, articles, press releases, annual reports and various studies.

Exploring Smart Airports’ Information Service Technology for Sustainability: Integration of the Delphi and Kano Approaches

Airport digitalization has revolutionized service delivery at passenger touchpoints, which leads to sustainable passenger loyalty. However, it is critical to determine whether this rapid transition to digital services genuinely enhances passenger satisfaction with airport services. This study uses a mixed-method approach to identify key traditional and technology-driven information services in smart airports. The specific aim is to determine the optimal balance in which digital technologies can effectively replace human-provided services to establish sustainable passenger loyalty. Two rounds of Delphi surveys were conducted with panels of 23 and 21 experts, followed by an online Kano survey with 401 international passengers. The Delphi analysis identified 16 key information service attributes, while the Kano analysis revealed that the majority of technology-based services were attractive and positively influenced passenger satisfaction. By contrast, human-based services were mostly indifferent, although some were vital for boosting satisfaction and preventing dissatisfaction. These results advance the current airport service research and provide practical insights into optimizing passenger experiences through the strategic integration of technology for sustainable smart airports while maintaining essential human-provided services.

Unveiling the future: Smart airports - applications, advantages, strategies and technological challenges

Purpose: This paper aims to provide an insight onto the smart airport concept, its advantages and disadvantages as the world is constantly in a state of change. Concepts related to such revolution as well as its characteristics are increasingly being considered into various daily operations. As of so the concept of a Smart City has risen and with it the concept of a Smart Airport. These airports use these technologies to ease travelling processes and ensure safe and secure airports as well. Some of these are computerized check-ins and baggage tracks, smart screening, live tracking of passengers, and parking. Such changes in the aviation industry brought about by the fourth industrial revolution, guarantee that a number of airports will continue to grow.Design/methodology/approach: Through a thorough study of the literature available it was possible to meticulously describe the concept of a smart airport. Therefore, the approach was to synthesize multiple perspectives, theoretical perspectives to empirical evidence, which leads to the development of a solid and elaborate paper which aims at exploring the complexity of this emerging construct.Findings: Findings indicate that airports tend to follow innovations as they occur around the world. Financial budgets, security concerns, passenger and workforce perception and acceptance are also factors on how airports tend to implement new technologies which leads to why airports around the world are so different technologically from each other.Originality/value: This study is directly defined as a matter of explication and a qualitative investigation into airports of the future. This article which takes up a qualitative approach not only reports the existing trends, but also reflects the scheme of the theory and conclusion for the future. Furthermore, this paper adds to the conversation about smart cities and the aviation industry's effect at a broader scale.

Smart Airports: Artificial Intelligence–Enabled Internet of Things Networks Using Blockchain Technology

Smart Airports: Artificial Intelligence–Enabled Internet of Things Networks Using Blockchain Technology

The road to smart airports: Bibliometric analysis of digital transformation by using Rlanguage.

The accumulated knowledge has led to a state of misunderstanding about the precise meanings of digitalization, and a precise framework to define smart airports is still missing. This study aims to reveal the current status and future direction of smart airports and digital transformation in the academic literature and to provide a comprehensive definition for smart airports. The identified keywords were searched in the Web of Science database covering the years 1989-2024 and a total of 372 studies were found. These studies were then analyzed using Bibliometrix (R package). We determined that the most influential academic source on the themes is the Journal of Air Transport Management, and the collaboration index in the literature is three. While conferences are the most productive sources in this field, academic journals are mostly cited in studies. Academic studies typically employ and evaluate "performance" and "model," "impact" and "air," and "economic development" and "location" in tandem, despite the distinction between technological and managerial issues. In the light of the findings, the definition of a smart airport can be "an airport ecosystem where personalized service is provided to users by using Industry 4.0 technologies on the basis of big data analysis and real-time sharing between objects; digitalization is turned into a holistic organizational culture starting from top management to cover all personnel; the decision-making process is carried out autonomously within the entire airport operation network; and the main goal of competitive advantage and high-level user experience is provided uninterruptedly."

Travelers' perception of smart airport facilities: An X (Twitter) sentiment analysis

This study investigates travelers' perceptions of smart airport facilities through sentiment analysis. It collected 39,616 comments from thirteen smart airports, and 25,572 tweets were analyzed. Most mentioned words about the smart airport included "technology" and "security". Comments also highlighted concerns about airport customer service, including "bag," "transit," and "disabled." The results also reveal that travelers are more concerned about the outcome of these facilities, such as the efficiency and time management of flights via smart facilities. The most mentioned words in the tweets related to smart airport operations are "flight," "waiting," and "time". Despite most smart facilities being equipped in the airports aiming to raise travelers' satisfaction, the results showed that 12 smart airports' tweets were generally neutral. Smart airport facilities might not add as much value to the airport impression as we expect. Brisbane International Airport was the only one with a positive perception of smart airport facilities. Most travelers mentioned that the airport had faster and better wifi and the airport is continuously improving. In contrast, Charles de Gaulle Airport and London Heathrow Airport had the highest percentage of negative sentiment, with 25.90% and 27.52% of tweets being negative, respectively. Travelers' complained that self-check-in kiosks were a mess, unhelpful staff and poor wifi. The results reveal travelers' concerns regarding smart airport facilities, and they let us know the importance of smart facility management. Smart airport facilities were initially designed to shorten travelers' time and enhance satisfaction, yet unhelpful staff and poor managed kiosks raise dissatisfaction. This study helps airport managers and operators to address the weakest part of smart airports as reflected in social media comments. It also fills the academic voids in examining travelers' satisfaction with smart facilities using social media and sentiment analysis via artificial intelligence.

Assessing Passenger Satisfaction with Smart Airport Technologies: An Empirical Study

Airports serve as crucial components within the air transport value chain, necessitating continual adaptation to meet evolving technological demands and enhance passenger experiences. The evolution towards Smart Airports or Airport 3.0 underscores the imperative for modernization to facilitate safe, efficient, and seamless travel experiences, particularly pertinent amidst the challenges posed by events like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study delves into the concept of Smart Airports, focusing on passenger perceptions of technology and its role in shaping competitiveness within the tourism sector. Through an analysis of passenger perceptions and expectations, this research aims to provide a clearer understanding of the Smart Airport concept, considering gender perspectives, which represent a novel contribution to existing literature. Recognizing the pivotal role of air transport infrastructures in destination competitiveness, this study investigates the impact of technology improvements on passenger satisfaction and overall travel experience. By examining the relationship between airport technologies and passenger perceptions, satisfaction, and enjoyment, this research underscores the importance of integrating new technologies to enhance airport services and meet evolving passenger needs. The study further explores the potential of ICT in reducing travel time and enhancing overall passenger experiences, with a particular emphasis on understanding gender-specific influences on perceptions of airport technologies. Through a comprehensive analysis, this paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing discourse on Smart Airports and their significance in shaping the future of air travel.

Integrated Interaction Journey and Privacy Risk Assessment: A Graph Model

Smart airports involve several applications and stakeholders to facilitate passenger journey. Passengers interact with those stakeholders and share their personal information using the smart airport applications. While the use of smart airport applications offers several benefits, it also puts passengers’ personal information at risk. This draws our attention to the need for identifying and understanding privacy risks with a view to protect passenger information at smart airports. Our earlier systematic literature review study revealed a gap in modelling passenger information privacy risks in the context of smart airports. This paper aims to address this gap by developing an ontology for interaction journey and privacy risk assessment modeling. The contribution of the proposed ontology is to bring new knowledge and understanding of privacy risks in the contemporary smart airport context. The development and evaluation of the proposed framework follows the Design Science Research (DSR) method along with the ontology development techniques. The proposed ontology aims to assist privacy experts in modelling and analyzing privacy risks relevant to passenger information in the smart airport context.

Revolutionizing Tourism: Harnessing the Power of IoT in Smart Destinations

The convergence of technology and travel has given rise to the paradigm of smart destinations, fueled by the transformative force of the Internet of Things (IoT). This review paper delves into the revolutionary impact of IoT on tourism, specifically focusing on the concept of smart destinations. Smart Hotels, exemplifying this paradigm shift, redefine the guest experience through seamless technology integration. Smart room controls, driven by IoT, intuitively respond to guest preferences, transforming the traditional stay into a personalized and efficient encounter. Transportation undergoes a parallel transformation through connected transportation, where IoT innovations reshape global mobility. From smart airports to intelligent traffic management systems, the integration of IoT ensures seamless and efficient travel experiences for both passengers and goods. Wearable devices further enhance the tourism experience, with smart tour guides leading the way. Wearables provide real-time information and personalized recommendations, with smart glasses employing augmented reality (AR) to overlay digital information onto the physical world. This hands-free approach enriches tourist exploration of historical sites and museums. In popular tourist attractions, IoT-enabled experiences redefine engagement. From smart museums to AR tours and interactive exhibits, the integration of IoT technologies enhances how visitors interact with cultural landmarks, creating immersive and technologically enriched tourism experiences. This review explores the multifaceted intersections of IoT and tourism, offering insights into current trends and future prospects in this dynamic space.

Evaluation of autonomous vehicle applications in smart airports using Dombi Bonferroni mean operator based CIVL-BWM-TODIM decision making methodology

Recent advancements on autonomous vehicles (AVs) have revolutionized the aviation industry, providing great potential to enhance sustainability for this fuel-intensive industry. Diverse operation types of AVs at airports have emerged (e.g., for baggage/passenger movement). This study aims to provide a guideline on how to switch from the traditional human-driving vehicle operations to AV operations, to help improve the smartness and sustainability of airport operations. Five alternative operation types are evaluated under ten criteria. We propose a new CIVL-BWM-TODIM with Dombi Bonferroni mean operator (DBM) decision framework. The combination of the Continuous Interval-Valued Linguistic tool (CIVL) and the Best Worst Method (BWM) improves the criterial evaluation consistency, and the integration of CIVL and TODIM increases the evaluation accuracy on human language and psychological feelings. Besides, the DBM operator helps effectively integrate information from different experts. Results suggest that applying AVs for both functional activities and scheduled people delivery is the best alternative to build smart and sustainable airports. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to examine the impacts of various parameters on decision making. Moreover, comparative analysis over existing decision-making methods are carried out to validate the merits of the proposed approach.

The future of aeromobilities in the light of global disruption

The future of airports and aeromobilities looked much different before Covid-19. Being a global growth-sector with a problematic environmental impact, the sector showed little inclination to radically re-think its potential futures. However, the advent of Covid-19 dramatically changed this. This paper is based on a research project related to Airport City Futures that was initiated before Covid-19. This timing, however, has enabled us to see a dramatic change in the assessment of future scenarios. In the paper we present four basic future scenarios that include both utopian and dystopian elements (business as usual, fortress airports, Ecoports, and Smart airports). We explore these on the background of a theoretical framework containing three themes: aeromobilities, future scenarios as a methodology, and the epidemic society. The paper thus explores the future of aeromobilities and potential innovations in air space by ‘thinking with’ Covid-19. It presents critical reflections on how to democratize the future of aeromobilities in light of global disruption.

Knowledge Mapping Analysis of Intelligent Ports: Research Facing Global Value Chain Challenges

Integrated technology management in building smart ports or intelligent ports is a crucial concern for global sustainable development, especially when human societies are facing increasing risks from climate change, sea-levels rising, and supply chain disruptions. By mapping the knowledge base of 103 papers on intelligent ports, retrieved in late December 2022 from the Web of Science, this study conducted a roadmapping exercise using knowledge mapping findings, assisted by Bibliometrix, VoSviewer, and customized Python scripts. The three structural (intellectual, social, and conceptual) aspects of knowledge structure reveal the significance of the internet of things (IoT), the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), digitalization and supply chains, and the need for digital transformation alignment across various stakeholders with Industry 4.0 practices. Furthermore, an even geographical distribution and institutional representation was observed across major continents. The results of the analysis of the conceptual structure demonstrated the existence of several established and emerging clusters of research, namely (1) industry data, IoT, and ICT, (2) industry 4.0, (3) smart airports, (4) automation; and (5) protocol and security. The overall empirical findings revealed the underlying technology and innovation management issues of digital transformation alignment across stakeholders in IoT, Industry 4.0, 5G, Big Data, and AI integrated solutions. In relation to roadmapping, this study proposed a socio-technical transition framework for prototyping ecosystem innovations surrounding smart sustainable ports, focusing on contributing to valuable carbon or greenhouse gas emission data governance, management, and services in global value chains.

The effect of digitalisation on sustainability and smart airport

Players in the aviation industry have had to engage in a digital transformation with the spread of the concept of digitalisation because of rapid technological development. The concepts of sustainability, already present in aviation, and digitalisation, have become even more important in the industry. As digitisation and sustainability are two processes that need to be done together and are interdependent, and the results of which will have an impact on all stakeholders, whether positive or negative, they need to be completed successfully. Smart airports are airports where networked technologies such as IoT devices are widely used to support operations and operational planning and management. In this way, airports can become paperless and reduce environmental waste and pollutants. In this study, the concepts of sustainability and digitalisation are first discussed separately and then together, as well as the difficulties that digitalisation will bring and the contribution of digitalisation to aviation sustainability.

Guest Editorial: Trustworthiness of AI/ML/DL Approaches in Industrial Internet of Things and Applications

The papers in this special section focus on the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence/machine learning models/deep learning models (AI/ML/DL) as it applies to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIot). This includes automated environments, such as smart factories, smart airports, and smart healthcare systems. AI approaches enable automation and data analytic across industrial technologies, including the IIoT, cloud and edge, and fog computing paradigms. Current ML models, such as DL still suffer from designing a generalized trustworthy architecture that reveals semantics and contexts of models and attacks threat surface. The papers in this section were inspired by the convincing challenges and necessities described above and attempt to compile research results that essentially adopts them.

Passengers satisfaction with the technologies used in smart airports: An empirical study from a gender perspective

Passengers satisfaction with the technologies used in smart airports: An empirical study from a gender perspective

A homomorphic approach for security and privacy preservation of Smart Airports

The concept of Smart Airport is emerging in the Aviation sector because of the industry 4.0 revolution. To provide the best facility to the air travelers, most of the airports have enhanced their infrastructure using smart automation and Cloud Services (CS), etc. which play a significant role in increasing the revenue of the aviation industry. As the use of digital technology at airports is increasing, they are becoming progressively vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data breaches. The data collected by the airports is stored in specialized cloud databases, which ensures the availability of the data at any time. However, cloud servers have been compromised several times which leads to a lack of trust by the consumers. To meet the privacy and security objectives of the data collected at the airports and stored in the cloud, this research proposes a Searchable Encryption (SE) scheme based on Partial Homomorphic Encryption (PHE). The proposed scheme allows users to search on the encrypted data stored in the cloud hence enhancing the usability of the encrypted data. In this paper, a Single Keyword Searchable Encryption (SKSE) scheme is presented which is implemented using Paillier Cryptosystem. The proposed scheme comprises of two variants (a) Secure SKSE (b) Efficient SKSE. The Secure SKSE scheme exploits the probabilistic properties of the Paillier cryptosystem, whereas, the Efficient SKSE scheme is lightweight as it is based on the deterministic properties of the Paillier cryptosystem. Both variants of SKSE scheme are deployed on a public cloud platform “Contabo” and tested on the real-world aviation data to assess the performance of both approaches. The security and performance analysis illustrates that the proposed Secure SKSE maintains a high-security level by providing probabilistic encryption and trapdoors. On the other hand, the Efficient SKSE is 84 times faster in terms of performance.

A Delay Prediction Method for the Whole Process of Transit Flight

In order to strengthen the construction of smart airports and improve the ability of airport managers to identify, intervene and rescue delayed flights, this paper proposes a delay prediction method for the whole process of transit flights through the basic steps of node time and link time prediction and delayed flight identification. By designing the key node time prediction model (ML-DM), the method predicts the important guaranteed node time involved in the process of flight departure from the outstation to the departure from the current station. By constructing the imbalance data classification model, the delayed flight is identified at each predicted guarantee node. The experimental results for a busy airport show that this prediction method can achieve a maximum recognition rate of 96.5% for delayed flights.

스마트공항 이용자의 지각된 혜택과 희생이 지각된 가치, 공동 가치 제안 의도, 정보공유 의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 : 가치 기반 수용모델을 중심으로

Currently, domestic airports are in the completion stage of smart airports, and in this study, we examined the relationship between the perceived benefits and perceived sacrifices of smart airport users in perceived value, intention to co-create, and information sharing intention. In order to conduct the study, an online survey was conducted from March 15 to April 30, 2022 for passengers who have experienced using domestic smart airports within the last year. A total of 310 copies were analyzed using SPSS v.23 program for the final analysis: frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. Besides, the confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were conducted using AMOS v.23 program. the results of this study are as follows. First, hypothesis 1 was adopted that the perceived usefulness, perceived pleasure, perceived technicality, and perceived cost of smart airports had significant effect on perceived value. second, hypothesis 2 was adopted due to the positive effects of perceived value of smart airports on intention to co-create. Third, hypothesis 3 was adopted as the perceived value of smart airports was found to have a significant positive effect on information sharing intention. Based on these findings, this study suggests strategic implications for smart airport operation.

LR-AKAP: A Lightweight and Robust Security Protocol for Smart Home Environments.

For the betterment of human life, smart Internet of Things (IoT)-based systems are needed for the new era. IoT is evolving swiftly for its applications in the smart environment, including smart airports, smart buildings, smart manufacturing, smart homes, etc. A smart home environment includes resource-constrained devices that are interlinked, monitored, controlled, and analyzed with the help of the Internet. In a distributed smart environment, devices with low and high computational power work together and require authenticity. Therefore, a computationally efficient and secure protocol is needed. The authentication protocol is employed to ensure that authorized smart devices communicate with the smart environment and are accessible by authorized personnel only. We have designed a novel, lightweight secure protocol for a smart home environment. The introduced novel protocol can withstand well-known attacks and is effective with respect to computation and communication complexities. Comparative, formal, and informal analyses were conducted to draw the comparison between the introduced protocol and previous state-of-the-art protocols.

스마트공항의 긍정적 기술 준비도와 통합된 기술수용이론, 정보공유의도의 영향관계

With the advent of the 4th industrial revolution and the advanced aviation industry, smart airports have been immerged as a new trend. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online communication has been the mainstream of the service sector; smart airports have reached near completion. For this study, the researcher investigated the interrelationships between airport users’ well-preparedness in technology, integrated technology acceptance theory, and information sharing. For the past two years, 370 survey questionnaires were collected from smart airport users; to validate analytical methods, 354 responses were analyzed except for 16 unqualified data. The researcher used statistics programs such as SPSS (version 22) and AMOS (version 22) to measure frequency, validity, reliability analysis, and route analysis. The result findings are as follows. Sub-factors of well-preparedness, such as optimism and trustworthiness, primarily affect performance expectation, attempt anticipation, social influence, and facilitating conditions; however, optimism is analyzed as ineffective for facilitating conditions. Besides, all sub-variables for integrated technology acceptance affect information sharing intentions. The research confirmed variables influential on the technological acceptance of smart airport users based on research findings. Therefore, this study has significant implications for strategies in smart airports.