An intelligent baggage-tracking system for airport security

Abstract The proposed baggage-tracking system is designed to improve airport security and expedite the retrieval of baggage belonging to passengers suspected of posing a threat to the safe flight of an aircraft. As passengers check in, the dimensions of each piece of their luggage are obtained via a non-invasive laser-light-sensor system, and are input to the computer. The weight of the luggage is also input to the computer. Based on a codebook associated with the flight, date, weight, dimensions, type of aircraft, the number of passengers booked for this flight and the weight and balance constraints, the computer assigns the luggage to a specific container and a specific location within the container. Furthermore, a special tag is issued by the computer. The tag denotes the container number and the position within the container of the luggage. Each tag contains an antenna responding to a very narrow band of frequencies. The antenna frequency of the tag is also input to the computer. If the passenger does not board the aircraft, this information is used to remove the passenger's luggage within a relatively short time.