Changi Airport trialling Al for security screening of cabin bags

Security checks for passengers flying out of Changi Airport could be up to 50 per cent quicker, if a trial to automatically detect prohibited items in carry-on luggage takes off.

- Kok Yufeng

 

Changi Airport Group (CAG) is currently testing a system at Terminal 3 that employs artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to screen and interpret images from the X-ray machines used to check cabin baggage at the boarding gate.

This reduces the time needed to process these images and the chances of human error, said the airport operator.

The initial results have been promising, CAG added, with the new Al-powered system performing as well as, or even better than, human security screeners in flagging some of the prohibited items that it has been trained to detect.

Items that are not allowed in carry-on bags include dangerous substances such as insecticides, cigarette lighters and sharp objects such as pocket knives.

CAG declined to provide more details about the trial when asked, citing security reasons.

Reports elsewhere suggest that X-ray images from bag scanners can be screened up to five times faster with AI algorithms than a human operator. According to the magazine Airport World, multiple trials of such algorithms are under way in places such as China, the Netherlands and the United States.