By Wayne Arvidson, CTO, Verticals, AI & Computer Vision, Dell Technologies
Anyone who has been tracking the progress of artificial intelligence (AI) knows that the past year has seen the emergence of game-changing tools in the mainstream such as natural language processing (NLP) and multimodal large language models (LLM), AI-powered digital twins, convolutional neural networks (CNN) and more. There is no doubt that such tools are lowering the barrier to entry to customized business insights. Outcomes that once required a team of highly skilled technical people can now be achieved in a far more cost-efficient and effective way.
Embedding these game-changing technologies requires a blueprint. As accessible as these technologies have become, airports need to fully understand the road ahead if they want to implement them efficiently and cost effectively. They need to be realistic about what they can do in-house and what technology solutions and consultancy and support services they need to buy-in.
The starting point of the blueprint is to define the desired outcome as this will establish the workflow. Having measurable goals and objectives defined at the outset is key to tracking progress, performance and whether the value delivered aligns with expectations. The workflow will vary depending on whether the airport needs a customized outcome or can leverage existing outcomes delivered by readily available applications.
The next stage is to identify the data sources that contain the information that need to be analyzed to deliver actionable insights, and where the work should take place. For example, video data is too large to be moved to a central location and needs to be analyzed where the activity is actually taking place to deliver real-time insights.
This sets the groundwork for a clear pathway for handling the data. It’s important to take a broad view of the range of data sources available to avoid data siloing. This allows multiple insights to be extracted from that same pool of data. For example, the same frame of video can deliver safety, operational, and passenger experience insights simultaneously.
Airports have a number of options open to them to explore their data (looking at the structure, patterns and relationships that exist in it), and enrich it (enhancing it by adding data, context or other information from other sources). This requires data architects or specialized tools to decide which data integration process they will use to combine the data from these multiple sources into a single, consistent dataset.
The next step is to create and refine the model, typically starting with an integrated one from a third-party application or marketplace. This phase is generally not needed with an off-the-shelf application as the model is already embedded. Once defined, the model then moves from the development and testing environment into real-world implementation. The model and its inputs and outputs are monitored and analyzed against specific metrics and benchmarks to measure the performance, reliability, and effectiveness and to gain insight on its performance and behavior via observability tools.
To conclude, these new low-code, no-code tools are now readily accessible
In conclusion, start with the desired business and operational outcomes that you are trying to achieve. This will define the workflows required. Then, look at your data holistically, as this will provide multiple insights across all your data sets, delivering them in the context of the specific business operation consuming it. With this exciting set of new tools available, you now have the ability to achieve outcomes customized to your business practice and facilities.
Visit the Dell Technologies and NVIDIA booth at the ACI Annual Conference and learn more about how we are helping airports across the globe during our solutions showcase on Monday September 9th at 10:00am.
Wayne Arvidson, CTO, Verticals, AI & Computer Vision, Dell Technologies
Wayne has over 25 years of senior management experience in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 firms. He currently drives market strategy for Dell Technologies’ Computer Vision and Edge Verticals practices. The team is responsible for identifying and managing strategic technology partners that create solutions to make the world a safer and smarter place. He is helping to drive industry transformation by educating the market on the role these solutions play as the foundation of a “safe + smart” infrastructure.
Wayne’s articles have appeared in numerous industry publications, and he is a regular speaker at industry events. He currently serves on the Security Industry Association committees for International Relations, Marketing & Membership, Homeland Security, Government Affairs, Video & Vision, and Body-Worn Video Technology and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, focusing on Law Enforcement Information Management. He also serves on the Steering Committee at Airports Council International.
DISCLAIMER
This article was provided by a third party and, as such, the views expressed therein and/or presented are their own and may not represent or reflect the views of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), its management, Board, or members. Readers should not act on the basis of any information contained in the blog without referring to applicable laws and regulations and/or without appropriate professional advice.
