Ubiquitous Computing at a Crossroads: Art, Science, Politics and Design 

January 6th and 7th 2009
Huxley Building, Imperial College London

The INtelligent Airport (TINA): A Self-organising, Wired/wireless Converged Machine

Ian White and Richard Penty, Cambridge University Engineering Department
Jon Crowcroft and Malcolm Scott, Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Jaafar Elmirghani, University of Leeds
Alwyn Seeds and Paul Brennan, University College London

Presentation slides

A wide range of applications can be anticipated in the coming years which will require extremely advanced adaptive computing and communication systems to provide users with mobile, secure and automatic means of conducting business. One major application area for such systems is in airports. Fuelled by the growth of international air traffic, airports are now amongst the most complex environments known. Airport terminals will increasingly require ubiquitous systems with high levels of computational power to provide the necessary intelligent automation; to provide high quality services to passengers; stringent levels of safety and security that are as unobtrusive as possible; efficient processing of commercial goods and luggage; high quality information systems; airport transportation systems and appropriate support for in-house commercial ventures. These requirements will involve both fixed and mobile appliances, and hence an intelligent, adaptive, self-organising and self-managing wired and wireless infrastructure will become an essential asset.

This presentation will report on a range of approaches that have been studied within the project. These include (i) a computer based design tool to simulate passenger flow through a realistic departure lounge in the busy morning period (ii) A highly scalable Ethernet infrastructure which overcomes the current restriction on the number of MAC addresses which can be managed by individual Ethernet switches, by dynamically rewriting addresses, and (iii) Active and Passive Tag Location being achieved within an overlay system allowing multichannel wireless communications. The presentation will discuss the potential implications of this work for other applications.