Aviation students create smart boxes to guide passengers at the airport

A group of students from Vietnam Aviation Academy created equipment boxes mounted in different locations in the airport to help passengers find the plane gate, restroom, and look up information.

From the beginning of 2024, a group of students Tran Quang Tin, Nguyen Y Bin, Vu Thai Binh Duong, Nguyen Van Phu Qui and Vo Hoang Nhat Truong , studying in the 1st and 2nd years of the Faculty of Information Technology, began developing products. The support device is rectangular in shape, mounted in areas such as entrance gates, boarding areas, cafeterias. where passengers can easily recognize them.

The smart box is designed with an embedded system that acts like a miniature computer, with software that includes three functions: giving voice commands, opening a map to let the robot guide you, and looking up information to help passengers find schedules. Flights and information to serve travel and tourism needs. Operations are used on the LCD screen mounted on the front of the box.

When the passenger approaches the box, an ultrasonic sensor will recognize it and turn on the service mode. Users will give voice commands through the microphone mounted on the device. When passengers need to find the plane gate, restroom, medical area. the box will transmit a signal to the robot car below to move and guide passengers to the area they want. The system can provide instructions in two languages: English and Vietnamese.

Testing on a simulation model the group's airport passenger support system. (Video: Ha An).

According to team leader Tran Quang Tin, in fact, many airports have signage and notification screens to support information for passengers. However, for first-time passengers arriving at the airport, especially foreigners, they will encounter difficulties because they are not familiar with the layout in the terminal. People with disabilities who have difficulty walking need more support. The group wants to have a professional and accurate IoT support system to reduce infrastructure and human costs in the airport. "Some airports in Korea and Japan already have support boxes or robots that provide information and carry luggage for passengers. The group wants to develop a similar system to improve modernity and professionalism in the airport." ", Tin said.

The group chose Can Tho international airport to design a support model using a smart box . Vu Thai Binh Duong is the member in charge of searching for information on the internet, combining practical records to redesign areas that need support such as restrooms, medical areas, aircraft gates. at the airport. This flight, then redraw it on the computer to build a model of the path and instructions.

Smart boxes placed in many locations in the airport help support airline passengers. (Photo: Ha An).

According to Tran Quang Tin, the most difficult part when designing the box is developing large language models (LLMs) to give the most accurate results in the information lookup function. The group uses pre-trained data sources provided on the internet, then classifies information fields, mainly for looking up information at airports and tourist destinations.

Regarding the navigation feature, currently due to testing in the desert, the smart box only connects to the guided robot car via bluetooth waves. With the large scale of the airport, the research team uses radio waves for longer connection range. "In the near future, the team will integrate the navigation feature with the mobile application. When a passenger requests to go to a certain location on the box, the screen will display a QR code. The user scans the code and the mobile application will open. station map and directions to the location they need to find ," Tin shared. This overcomes the situation where many people use the smart box at the same time for navigation needs and the navigation robots cannot respond in time. Testing on a sand table, the team evaluated the system to operate stably, with an accuracy of over 95%.

5 team members are students at Vietnam Aviation Academy. (Photo: Ha An).

Master Nguyen Thai Son, Lecturer of Information Technology Department, Vietnam Aviation Academy, assessed that the group's products are highly applicable, in the context that many airports in the world already have automated systems. Robots assist passengers on airplanes. However, the product is stopping at testing on a mock-up model.

He said that the group needs to upgrade the hardware system and use a private network to connect IoT devices so that the product operates more stably. In addition, the communication method using radio waves needs to be licensed to have an operating frequency. "Smart boxes can be developed into support robots in the airport to increase connectivity with customers. To do this, it is necessary to rearrange the parts, details and design the robot shape accordingly" , Master Son said.