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Technology
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- Logan Airport to test new luggage tracking system
- Improved weather forecasts provided by plane sensors
Logan Airport to test new luggage tracking system
Lost luggage is a considerable problem in the travel industry—not only for the owners of the 30 million pieces of luggage misrouted annually by airlines (200,000 of which are lost permanently), but also to the airlines’ bottom lines. Estimates show airlines spend between $25 USD and $150 USD per lost bag to return it to its owner, translating into a $2.5 billion USD annual expense.
In a step toward fixing this problem, officials at Boston’s Logan International Airport will begin testing new luggage tracking technology this spring on a Lufthansa flight that runs daily from Boston to Frankfurt, Germany.
The system will use luggage tags containing unique patterns of metallic fibers which will be identified by electronic readers as the bags pass by on conveyor belts at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.
These high-tech luggage tags could replace the sticky white labels historically used. The new tags could be a vast improvement over the white labels, considering that the latter go unread five to 20 percent of the time, due in part to the label being covered or smudged.
Another problem with the white tags is that they often are torn off during transport on conveyor belts; the new tags would solve this problem, as they can be placed inside the bag and still be accurately read by radio waves.
Source: Boston Globe
Improved weather forecasts provided by plane sensors
Weather forecasts, which are critical in determining whether flights will be delayed or cancelled, may improve in the near future. An experiment involving new weather sensors installed on some U.S. passenger planes has shown to provide more accurate weather information than the existing weather forecasting methods.
These lunchbox-sized weather sensors are located near the plane’s nose and measure weather conditions every few seconds while the plane is in flight. The sensors measure humidity, pressure, temperature, altitude and additional data, and transmit this information via satellite to computers for analysis. In early tests with NASA and the National Weather Service, forecasters detected weather conditions such as heavy storms, fog and prime tornado conditions with a high level of accuracy.
Another important way these sensors may be of value is by their ability to detect ice buildup on planes. Since ice buildup can significantly impact a plane’s ability to function properly, this measurement capability could increase the level of safety for planes during bad weather conditions.
“We have to give pilots better weather information to make better decisions,” said Taumi Daniels, who led research at NASA on the new weather sensors. Whether this technology will be widely used depends on whether the U.S. government chooses to pay for it. In addition to the weather-related functions of the sensors, another potential use for the technology could be for U.S. air marshals aboard planes to use the satellite transmitters on the planes to send messages while flying. In the event of an emergency such as a hijacking, this capability could be highly valuable.
Sources: The Associated Press, Washington Post
