IoT tracker technology is evolving and offers operational advantages to airports that embrace the solution, writes Andy Thomas, UK & Ireland lead at Sensolus.
Amongst many other extraordinary predictions, 100 years ago and more than half a century before the internet, Nikolas Tesla said “every home will be connected to a central office”.
This was based on his idea that information and energy would be transmitted wirelessly.
In 1982, just as the internet was coming to life, a Coke machine became one of the first ‘smart appliances’ by reporting its inventory status over Carnegie Mellon University’s network.
It was only 26 years ago that the term ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) was coined. Today, there are over 18.8 billion IoT devices connected to the internet, according to IoT Analytics.
This incredible story is built on multiple, independent (and inter-dependent) developments in key technologies, including wireless data transmission, batteries, sensors, and the internet itself.
The opportunities appear to be limitless, but how can airport operators take advantage, and what are the challenges they might face when seeking to deploy IoT solutions?
In this article, we look at how IoT tracker technology is evolving, review current applications in airports, and consider future developments that could transform asset tracking and management.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The term Industrial IoT (IIoT), referring to applications of core IoT technology in industrial environments, was coined just 13 years ago, but the tech has been used since the very start to gather and transmit information from individual trackers to some sort of central management platform.
Trackers typically collect and transmit the following types of data – Positional, Environmental and Operational.
Combinations of this data can trigger alerts, or cause plans to change, or be used to make predictions (for example, potential resource shortages or schedule clashes).
In short, the IIoT simply enshrines the old adage that what can be measured can be managed.
In the IIoT, asset tracking has in recent years improved dramatically, with lower cost devices, longer battery life, more and better sensors, and smaller form factors, combining to widen the number of applications and to make total solutions much more cost-effective.
When you think about the alternative to this advanced asset tracking, basically manual searching, it is immediately obvious where time and cost-savings can be made.
But beyond that, the inconvenience, delay, and general frustration that arises when stuff isn’t in the right place at the right time, can cause reputational damage – which is always much harder to repair. But challenges remain.
CHECKING IN
Tracking assets around complex sites like airports is uniquely challenging; key data needs to be measured accurately, at high speed, indoors and out.
The locations of Ground Services Equipment (GSE) like towbars, stairs, and loaders, need to be known so they can be deployed optimally, and loading and unloading aircraft relies on knowing where dollies are parked and whether or not they are loaded.
Engineering equipment like engine washers and oxygen trollies may be required at very short notice, so knowing their location and operational status is vital.
Trackers on non-powered assets need a battery to power all on-board functions, and it is here that good design, which comes from experience plus expertise, is absolutely vital.
Tracking GSE on the airfield is slightly simpler as it’s outdoors where GPS is available. Wheelchairs present a trickier problem, but they can also be tracked – inside the terminal building, across the airport, and out to neighbouring locations like car parks and hotels.
Knowing where all the different types of chairs are makes planning so much more efficient since you are only as fast as your slowest passenger.
Passenger Service teams already have a live feed of inbound aircraft and passenger numbers, while wheelchair tracking allows them to cater for all their passengers.
Inside the airport, we’re not yet quite at the level of tracking every luggage cart, but that day is approaching.
CONSIDER THIS
Batteries are central to everything in an IoT tracker, because everything it does ‘costs’ battery power.
Design is everything. Modern batteries can last for many years on a single charge – if the functions they support are well designed. The biggest challenge with tracking GSE (or indeed any fast-moving asset) is update frequency.
You can’t have an asset permanently connected – a tracker needs to ‘know’ what data to send when, to maximise its battery life.
Of all industry sectors, GSE is probably the most punishing on batteries, so experience and design expertise counts here more than anywhere.
Connectivity is of course a primary function. IoT trackers connect via the cloud to a management system, typically using low-power wide-area networks, which transmit small data packets over a long range, using very little battery.
This connectivity – examples include NB-IoT and LTE-M networks – allows data transmission costs to be minimised, enabling industrialisation of smart devices like trackers.
Critically, a management system is the central point where all the data coming from trackers is captured, making it easy to visualise the location and status of assets.
Having gathered all the data, the management system can use pre-defined thresholds to trigger alerts or detect dormant assets or even highlight when an asset enters a restricted area.
Ground operations systems tend to have their own interface for managing airfield-wide operations, so the management platform should have an open API for easy integration.
Modern platforms let asset managers know the utilisation of their assets, generate audit trails and service histories. They can also offer an app for operators in the field or the terminal – who can then find the closest asset or even mark it for service/cleaning.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
All of the above is fine in theory, but are there real-world examples of where and how IoT trackers are delivering real-world benefits at airports?
TCR is a global leader in GSE, with systems in use at nearly 250 airports worldwide, handling over 5,000 flights per day from over 300 airlines.
They have deployed over 8,500 of our IoT trackers at multiple airports; each airport location uses cloud-based management system.
So, everything is possible today, at scale, and GSE equipment manufacturers can realise the benefits almost immediately. It takes very little time to install, integrate, and commission a fully managed IoT asset-tracking solution.
Such a solution for GSE gives full visibility of the asset estate, any time and from anywhere. It gives early detection of anomalies and operational inefficiencies and a fully automated inventory across multiple locations.
To take another example, aircraft maintenance is a time-critical process. However, long distances can cost valuable minutes, especially at a major airport like Frankfurt: Condor Technik has a hangar located on the opposite side of the airport to the terminals – a distance as the crow flies of nearly four kilometres. Going around the runway can be as much as ten kilometres.
Condor relies on an IoT-based tracking solution to optimise the routes to be covered when using its GSE, saving important time and increasing overall efficiency in daily operations.
From tyre change carts for various types of aircraft, to oxygen and nitrogen carts, a fuel drain cart, cargo stairs, an engine washer, and a mobile toilet emptying cart – the GSE is only moved via external vehicles.
For this reason, it was almost impossible to localise the equipment. Since the beginning of 2025, the Condor assets have been equipped with IoT trackers and can be precisely localised on the huge airport grounds and displayed on the management system map.
The precise tracking data now helps the technical teams to plan the deployment of GSE and optimise routes. With this newly gained visibility, many trips from one side of the airport site to the other can now be eliminated.
THE SKY’S NOT THE LIMIT
As in many sectors, AI will significantly enhance asset tracking IoT systems by improving data analysis, enabling predictive maintenance, and automating processes.
AI algorithms can process the vast amounts of data from IoT sensors in real-time and can analyse historical data to predict potential equipment failures, maintenance needs, and optimise resource allocation.
With the powerful ability to identify patterns and anomalies, AI tools are perfectly suited to the overall optimisation of an asset estate.
For example, by monitoring inventory levels and leveraging demand patterns, resource restocking can be optimised to reduce waste.
In short summary, AI systems will improve asset tracking and management and push it to become more predictive, driven by insights arising from the analysis of vast amounts of data, ultimately making significant cost savings and improving operational performance.
IOT ENABLED SMART TROLLEYS AT HYDERABAD AIRPORT
Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) hasn’t looked back with the Internet of Things (IoT) since becoming the first gateway in India to embrace it for the real-time tracking and deployment of baggage trolleys across the airport since nearly five years ago.
HYD operator, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), believes that its decision to take the “digital leap” and implement an IoT platform has allowed it to augment its services and operational excellence, paving the way for a “truly Smart Airport City in Hyderabad”.
The airport has deployed a LoRa (Long Range) IOT platform for the airport baggage trolley project, which has allowed it to significantly reduce the time passengers have to wait for any of its 3,000 baggage trolleys.
Discussing the benefits of IoT, GHIAL says: “Our Smart Trolley Management system has the capability to plan baggage trolleys according to the predictive analyses of estimated departure and arrival passenger loads.
“It preps the operations team with proactive planning with real-time dashboards/information on the availability of the number of baggage trolleys in different airport areas, ensuring their availability for the passengers at right place and right time.”
About Sensolus
Sensolus designs and develops complete solutions (from sensors to end-application) for asset management and supply chain digitisation, specifically for non-powered assets.