The INtelligent Airport (TINA)

预计未来将出现各种各样的应用程序，这些应用程序具有复杂且经常变化的服务需求、流量概况和用户期望。这将需要极其先进的自适应计算和通信系统，为用户提供移动、安全和自动的业务手段。一个主要的应用领域是国际旅行，在基础设施（如希思罗机场5号航站楼）的重大投资的支持下，国际旅行继续增长。在这种环境中，智能、自适应、自组织的有线/无线基础设施是必不可少的。预计这一基础设施复杂性的显著增长将不仅仅是由于诸如无线基站、监视摄像机、安全探测设备、显示器和终端设备等现有固定设备的大量增加。还需要更广泛地部署更紧凑的便携式设备，例如在各种运输设备上部署定位和控制设备。由透明光学射频网络支持的射频识别（RFID）标签可用于感知、定位和跟踪一系列物体，包括行李、移动资产和商业商品，并可提供登机牌自动标签和访问控制标签等附加功能。RFID标签将以较低的数据速率运行，通常为64kbit /s，但机场环境可能包含数百万个RFID标签。移动生物传感器将在这种环境中广泛部署，提供先进的功能。一系列固定和移动终端将提供额外的安全措施，如化学检测和分析，而其他固定和移动终端将支持旅客信息和娱乐服务。该基础设施将支持一系列个人乘客和工作人员的无线媒体设备。因此，设想的有线/无线网络将是庞大而复杂的，可能支持1000万个信息源，在相对本地的访问环境中，预计峰值汇总数据速率为500 Gbit/s。这超出了当前任何网络的能力，需要进行研究以了解构建有效系统的原理。由于这是一个雄心勃勃的多学科项目，因此提出了一个合作方案。该项目得到了Laing O'Rourke的大力支持，他将提供应用环境，分享设计经验、用户需求和架构约束，而Marconi将在复杂的通信系统设计方面提供专业知识。在大纲建议阶段，我们收到EPSRC的反馈，表示他们欢迎与参与机场营运的机构进一步合作。我们很高兴，作为回应，BAA和波音公司已经同意参与该项目，并且在伦敦大学学院已经与Paul Brennan博士建立了联系，他将参与该领域的一个主要欧洲项目，为RfID提供大量知识。最后，我们还寻求包括摩托罗拉和安捷伦在内的设备公司参与，以确保我们能够在项目的所有领域获得专家建议。

Diverse applications are expected to appear in the future with complex and often varying service requirements, traffic profiles and user expectations. These will require extremely advanced adaptive computing and communication systems to provide users with mobile, secure and automatic means of conducting business. A prime application area is in international travel which continues to grow supported by a significant investment in infrastructure, such as Heathrow Terminal 5.An intelligent, adaptive, self-organising wired/wireless infrastructure is essential in this environment. It is anticipated that the considerable growth in the complexity of this infrastructure will not just be due to the proliferation of established fixed equipment such as wireless base stations, surveillance cameras, security detection equipment, display and terminal equipment. The requirements will also be for a much wider deployment of more compact portable equipment, for example, location and control equipment on a wide range of transportation equipment. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags supported by a transparent optical-RF network can be used to sense, locate and track an array of objects including luggage, mobile assets and commercial goods and can provide additional features such as boarding pass auto-tags and access control tags. The RFID tags will operate at low data rates, typically 64 kbit/s, but an airport environment can be expected to contain a few million of them. Mobile biometric sensors will be widely deployed in this environment providing advanced features. A range of fixed and mobile terminals will provide additional security measures such as chemical detection and analysis, while other terminals, fixed and mobile, will support passenger information and entertainment services on transit. The infrastructure will support an array of personal passenger and staff wireless media rich devices. The wired/wireless network envisaged will thus be huge and complex, supporting perhaps 10 million information sources, with an anticipated peak aggregate data rate of order 500 Gbit/s in a relatively local access environment. This is beyond the capability of any current network and research is needed to understand the principles upon which an effective system could be constructed.As this is such an ambitious and multidisciplinary project, a collaborative programme is proposed. The project has strong industrial involvement and support from Laing O'Rourke who will provide the application context, share design experience, user requirements and architectural constraints and Marconi who will contribute expertise in complex communication system design. At the outline proposal stage, we received feedback from EPSRC that they would welcome additional collaborations with those involved in airport operations. We are delighted that, in response, BAA and Boeing have agreed to become involved in the project, and within UCL links have been made to Dr Paul Brennan, who will contribute substantial knowledge of RfID, being involved in a major European project in the area. Finally we have additionally sought to involve equipment companies including Motorola and Agilent to ensure that we can receive expert advice across all areas within the project.