Case Study - Vancouver International Airport Improves Passenger Journey

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is Canada’s second busiest airport by passenger traffic. Greeting over 19 million passengers in 2022, YVR sought to achieve a greater understanding of the passenger journey within their facilities. To do this, YVR hoped to create a ‘digital twin’ of the airport – a comprehensive visualization of their operations from baggage systems to passenger gates. The objective was to obtain a holistic view that could generate useful analytics gathered from combined systems data to ultimately improve operational efficiencies and provide a better curb-to-gate experience for visitors.

However, the 2D camera and 3D stereoscopic sensor solutions YVR was initially using for queue analysis and people-counting in various airport areas proved challenging.

Challenge

The first challenge YVR experienced throughout their usage of stereo sensors and cameras were visual limitations regarding the solutions’ limited field of view (FOV) and inaccurate depth perception. The restricted FOV, often caused by pillars and other occlusions, resulted in incomplete coverage, hampering the comprehensive monitoring of crucial airport zones. Additionally, the depth perception issues introduced inaccuracies in passenger counts, as applied video analytics struggled to distinguish one person vs. two closely positioned individuals. These challenges ultimately skewed occupancy or queue counts, making it very difficult to drive impactful change.
It also hindered the airport’s ability to deploy systems cost-effectively at scale. To increase accuracy, YVR would have been required to dramatically increase hardware deployments to overcome the current system limitations related to range and coverage. Initially, YVR considered Bluetooth- and mobile-based solutions, however these solutions would not have provided the consistent, accurate data that they required.

Quanergy Solution

Quanergy’s 3D LiDAR sensor and advanced perception software solution, Q-Track, was ultimately chosen to address the complex challenges faced by YVR.

YVR deployed a number of Quanergy 3D LiDAR sensors throughout critical areas such as baggage check-in, priority check-in, and more. With these sensors in place, YVR is able to accurately identify, classify, and track people and objects for enhanced operational insights such as wait times, processing times, time per passenger, and time per group. The airport currently uses these insights to meet a number of operational and business imperatives such as reducing check-in times and time spent passing through security, which ultimately increases passenger happiness.

“Through the implementation of Quanergy’s solutions, we have harnessed the power of real-time insights, gaining a deep understanding of passenger volumes and the associated wait times at different stages of their journey through the terminal,” said Jason Williams, Manager, Innovation & Technology Group, YVR. “With this high-precision data at our disposal, we can trigger real-time alerts whenever we approach or exceed predefined thresholds. This invaluable capability enables us to collaborate seamlessly with our stakeholders, ensuring that our travelers experience a smooth and stress-free journey through our airport.”

And because Quanergy LiDAR sensors deliver 360° spatial awareness, it is able to overcome FOV restrictions that limit other system’s range and coverage. This has ultimately allowed YVR to save potentially thousands on deployment costs. YVR needed to use only 1 Quanergy LiDAR to cover the same area that would have needed 7 or more of their existing sensors. In addition to the reduction in the number of sensors, the reduced costs of installation, cabling, and maintenance made Quanergy’s total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage even more evident.

Outcome

With Q-Track solutions in place, YVR receives a holistic overview of airport operations that can scale quickly to deliver business intelligence in virtually any area. In fact, Williams reports that he sees a tremendous opportunity to utilize Q-Track in several new areas of the airport, landside and airside, to unlock new capabilities beyond assessing passenger flow. This could be the use of Q-Track for intrusion detection, object tracking, security alerts, and more.

“We are pleased to have collaborated closely with the YVR team, resolving a multifaceted challenge encountered by many passenger terminals today,” said Adam Andres, Vice President, Global Sales, Quanergy. “We take pride in our contribution, providing real-time actionable intelligence to enhance security, streamline operations, and elevate the overall passenger experience.”

Contact us today to learn more about the use and benefits of Quanergy 3D LiDAR Systems.