Deployed by The Indoor Lab, Cepton’s technology will enable groundbreaking lidar-based AI analytics at Tampa International Airport (TPA).
The partnership will focus on revolutionising airport operations by offering an integrated, privacy-compliant perception solution. Utilising a lidar-based single sensing technology on a unified software platform, the solution provides rich features in a seamless interface. It aims to provide round-the-clock operational analytics and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for managing both indoor and outdoor spaces.
“We are proud to collaborate with Cepton in expanding lidar's use cases within the airport environment through this seven-year partnership with TPA,” said Patrick Blattner, CEO of The Indoor Lab, a Blattner Technologies Company. “From the moment a passenger gets dropped off at the airport, to going through security, boarding the plane and finally taking off, we are breaking new ground with products and services designed to enable a safer, more productive, and much improved passenger experience, paving the way for the airport of the future.”
Lidar’s high-accuracy, real-time perception capabilities can improve almost every aspect of airport operations
Lidar uses eye-safe, invisible light to scan an environment without relying on external lighting sources. Unlike camera-based 2D computer vision technology, lidar-enabled AI analytics take advantage of behaviour-based, non-biometric data derived from high-fidelity, anonymous real-time 3D images. This makes lidar an ideal sensor technology for use in privacy-sensitive venues.
Blattner added: “Lidar’s high-accuracy, real-time perception capabilities can improve almost every aspect of airport operations. In addition to indoor crowd analytics, which aid in staffing optimisation, cleanliness maintenance, concession line management, TSA wait time management and terminal safety, lidar also offers real-time outdoor measurements. Unlike cameras, lidar is impervious to lighting conditions or overhead mounting restrictions. Cepton lidars provide a wide field of view where every point in the 3D point cloud is measurable. This makes lidar the only technology on the horizon capable of fully leveraging AI's operational efficiencies.”
The Indoor Lab is deploying lidar-based solutions across TPA, enabling the airport to improve safety and efficiency at the entrance, pick-up and drop-off areas, the terminals and the airfield. By combining a global mesh network of Cepton lidar sensors, The Indoor Lab is creating the first airport of its kind to leverage lidar telemetry data across the entire facility, combined with operational AI, to create the airport of the future.
Image: Tampa International Airport
