How Airports can Use Beacon Technology to Improve Travel Experience

Every year, millions of people around the world travel through airports. Previously it was a harrowing experience where people had to take care of their belongings and worry about losing personal property.

However, with innovative solutions like Beacon technology, airports are now going smart. So, let’s take a look at some smart beacon technology and some beacon technology examples.

You and I, and maybe millions of people around the world had faced numerous problems and anxieties at the airports. Especially, while travelling in a foreign country or third world country, where only the foreign language is not the problem, other problems are there too which provide lack of information to the passengers. One of the most common problems many travelers face is wayfinding, whereas the second most is lack of information.

Over the last 10 years, however, things are changing. The airports are actively exploring opportunities to implement IoT solutions using the concept of connected devices. This is to enhance the journey of the travellers much easy.

One may think of increasing the number of manpower to assist the passengers. But that sounds like a costly affair and trust me, the best way to increase the travelling experience is when we have every piece of information we need in our hands. No one from us likes to approach a person to ask what we are looking for! Instead of hiring additional resources, there is a more efficient, impactful, affordable, and scalable alternative, iBeacons.

Innovative solutions leveraging smart Bluetooth low-energy beacon devices have transformed almost all industries, especially in the domain of enhancing customer services. Airports are reaping the benefits of iBeacons too.

Why are iBeacons Preferred for Wayfinding Indoors?

GPS, Geofencing, NFC, QR codes, etc. are technologies that are used indoors, so can they be useful for indoor navigation? Yes, these all have been given a shot for indoor wayfinding as well as location tracking indoors. And all of them were proven either ineffective, partially effective, or inaccurate.

You may wonder what’s wrong with GPS? Yes, you’re right. But GPS-based location tracking is a success for outdoor location tracking only. It is not reliable indoors. Beacons, on the other hand, are more precise in location tracking- indoors or outdoors. This is the reason why it is preferred to be used and implemented in providing indoor wayfinding solutions at airports.

How Beacon Technology Makes Airports Smart?

Using beacon devices, any format of information can be broadcasted; textual, image, or video content.

1) Wayfinding

The world is having some humongous airports where this technology can be a boon for the passengers, especially to those who are travelling for the first time. Beacon technology can precisely help such people who are seeking help for accurate information. With iBeacons, the travellers will be able to easily determine the location they want to reach along with the time duration.

2) Indoor Location Tracking

It is also a possibility to integrate indoor maps into the existing airport apps by installing iBeacons. The beacon SDK integration can be done with the existing mobile app. By using a beacon-based positioning system, point-based/grid-based, beacons can cover a specific area and entire area respectively. A grid-based system will create a grid that actually will help in determining the current locations of the travelers.

3) Wayfinding for Visually Impaired People

Beacons can help passengers with partial or entended visual imperfections. The power of two technologies combines here to provide a blissful solution for the differently-abled travellers, Beacons and Voice Assistants in the smartphone. The voice assistant can easily guide a person according to the precise information provided by the beacon devices.

The beacon technology uses the following details to provide rich information over the wayfinding or location tracking features.

• The user’s location
• The location of their destination
• The fastest way for the user to reach their destination.

Why choose IndiaNIC for iBeacon solutions?

IndiaNIC is an award-winning iBeacon application development company in India, providing robust BLE/beacon based mobile app solutions. IndiaNIC has developed its own beacon devices which can be customized based on the various business requirements. The IoT engineers at IndiaNIC are having 5+ years of experience in working with various sensors and connected devices and have delivered real-world innovations to businesses.

Integration of iBeacon SDK

A team of IoT engineers and mobile app developers at IndiaNIC will help you integrate iBeacon SDK into your existing or new system.

Our experts will help you build a web-based admin from where you can create, edit, or manage the content you wish to broadcast through iBeacons. It will also help you in managing and sending push notifications as well as various analytics (behavioral, operational, etc.) for making future strategies in marketing and inventory management.

Get in touch with our team if you wish to discuss a similar project idea.

Conclusion

In this modern era, where travelers are connected via social media, being able to connect directly with flyers is the major differentiator for any airport ministry.

Not only does beacon technology generate analytics that helps airports improve customer experiences, but it can help bolster airport efficiency, organization, and profitability.

FAQs on Beacon Technology for Airports