HOW THE BAGGAGE HANDLING SYSTEM WORKS

HOW THE BAGGAGE HANDLING SYSTEM WORKS Since starting commercial operations in 2010, the international terminal at Delhi airport has handled more than 89 million bags with only a 0.3% chance of a bag being lost in the system. What is the science behind these efficiency levels? Mint takes a look at how the baggage handling system (BHS), or the so-called mangle of steel at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3, functions. Compiled by Nikita Mehta; graphic by Yatish Asthana/Mint At the backhouse, officials read the destination codes on the baggage with manual bar code readers. With the help of a baggage reconciliation system, they load the bags on wheeled platforms, and then put them on trolleys that take the luggage to the plane. There are two levels of induction points to the sorting system. The bags that come from the scanners go directly to the tray due to precision engineering and programming in the system. A programme makes sure this tray automatically tilts, and the bag goes to the spiral chute, which leads it to the destination carousel. A sophisticated set-up of 35 4 fully automated detection systems, more than 50 remote operating stations with enhanced imagery and high-tech tomography X-rays for alarm resolution are used by trained security operators. If the bag is not cleared in level-three screening, it goes to an operator, who is trained to analyse the images. These operators accept or reject the bag. If they reject the luggage, it goes to level four, where level-three images are already available. If operators 8. An algorithm is fed into the system to see when to accept or reject a bag. There is a 270 degrees infrared sensor installed at a point on the baggage carousel where it reads the bag tag, and sends a signal to the processor, which takes a decision in micro seconds to send it to a certain destination baggage carousal. at this level feel there are suspicious objects in the luggage, they call the passengers, and examine the bag in front of them. Sorting: Four fully automated tilt tray sorting machines moving at a speed of 1.9 metres per second constantly receive and release bags to sort destinations. These machines then sort the mix of security-cleared baggage to 12 different destinations assigned for different flights. 7 Five-step scanning: If not cleared, the system > diverts the bag to the second level of screening. If the level-two operator thinks there are suspicious objects in the bag, it is diverted by the operator for level-3 CTX screening machine, which slices the picture of the bag into multiple pieces. This system has the capability of accepting or rejecting the bag. If the bag is accepted, it goes to the destination carousel. If a bag is cleared after the first X-ray screening, it is diverted towards the sorting area. The system uses high-speed conveyance and automatically slows down where baggage has to be examined by automated X-ray systems. 22 168 6,800 bags per hour Baggage handling capacity at T2 Check-in counters Check in: A bar-coded sticker is generated when 7km 1.05 million passengers check in with their baggage. The system can sort the baggage based on the information decoded from the 10-digit International Air Transport Association (lata) licence plate read into the system, and the bar code on bags, which contains the information of baggage origin, destination, passenger, flight and the airlines code. Baggage handled in August (Departure) Conveying lines 12,800 bags per hour Baggage handling capacity 5,000 Baggage handled per hour Source: Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd C THE KEY IS TO ADD AS MANY REDUNDANCIES AS POSSIBLE AND MULTIPLYING PROCESSES TO AVOID ANY DETAIL OF SECURITY OF SORTING BEING MISSED IN THE SYSTEM. , ROY SEBASTIAN, VICE-PRESIDENT, GMR AIRPORT DEVELOPERS LTD