Honorable mention technologies are those that will impact to a degree not high enough to be considered transformative. Despite not making the list of technology detailed in the Publication, these technologies are included here to keep them on the airport manager’s radar. These honorable mention technologies include:

• Assistive technology
• Biometrics
• Voice recognition

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is a catchall term for technology designed to assist passengers with disabilities. Advancements in connected devices, robotics, and artificial intelligence technologies have made their way to solutions targeted at solving the unique needs of passengers who need assistance. Use cases can range from technologies that help with language translation to those that allow for easier mobility.

Airports can be confusing places for much of the general public, not to mention those who may require additional assistance for portions of their journey. Airport operators will soon need to consider assistive technology’s effects on the airport from both airport-controlled and non-airport-controlled perspectives. Further research is needed to explore how robotic and autonomous solutions can help passengers along their journey. However, passengers may soon want to bring many of the technologies that have assisted them in their daily lives with them into the airport. Airport operators will need to account for these new technologies in designing plans for operations, security, and customer experience.

Assistive technology did not make the initial list of tracked transformative technologies since it is comprised of several other technologies and generally only impacts a small subset of passengers. However, this does not detract from the importance of these technologies for the users who rely on them.

Biometrics

Although still on the leading edge of innovation, biometric technology has increased in deployment across certain areas of the passenger process. Biometrics has the potential to significantly change multiple aspects of the traditional passenger journey. Airport operators are beginning to realize the process improvements that biometrics can bring to an organization and are piloting solutions in places like boarding or baggage drops.

As biometric processing is perfected, it stands to drive new possibilities across the passenger journey. For example, seamless travel and personalized services can be associated with each traveler, allowing a journey to have new levels of flexibility. Airports are a prime location to combine the security, personalization and data points of biometrics into a truly innovative solution.

Voice Recognition

Combined with machine learning systems, voice recognition technology has experienced a large upswing in functionality and public adoption. Improvements in the technology have allowed for improved digital personal assistants, new connected device functionality, and better experiences for those with certain disabilities.

Airport operators may soon be able to implement voice recognition solutions to improve various aspects of the passenger journey as well as staff operations. The inclusion of voice recognition brings new form factors for technology, different ways to provide necessary information, and potentially simpler interactions with many data sets.