Amazon Web Services (AWS) India Private Limited announced that WAISL Limited has developed a digital twin-powered integrated Airport Operations Command Center (APOC), on the world’s leading cloud. WAISL built the solution on AWS to significantly improve operational efficiency for airports and enhance passenger experiences using digital twins (virtual representations of an airport’s physical objects, systems, or processes), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), video and data analytics, and computer vision. WAISL plans to go live with this solution in a leading large Indian airport within the next few weeks and launch internationally in 2025 and beyond.
Airport congestion continues to impact airline on-time performance in India, as almost 80 million travellers took to the skies in the first half of 2024. Functioning like a central nervous system, the solution will serve as a central hub for real-time monitoring, coordination, and management of airport operations, covering activities from curb to gate, including check-in, security, and traffic control for passengers, vehicles, and aircrafts. It will provide real-time updates on flight details, wait times, gate changes, baggage status, and personalised suggestions to passengers on nearby restaurants and duty-free offers. Simultaneously, it will deliver real-time operational insights to airports, airlines, and ground-handling personnel. These insights will be delivered by sourcing, monitoring, and analysing data from all platforms within the airport ecosystem.
The WAISL digital twin-powered integrated APOC integrates data from over 40 different systems, addresses 250+ use cases, and tracks 100+ performance indicators, offering predictive and prescriptive intelligence, enabling capabilities such as footfall predictions and prescribed resource planning using advanced AI and ML algorithms embedded within the solution.
“At WAISL, we aim to set a new benchmark for airports worldwide. We don’t just innovate; we transform what’s possible. In the digital age, transformative impact stems not from technology alone but from its bold, strategic application to complex operational challenges. This is where WAISL’s digital twin-powered integrated Airport Operations Command Center excels. It’s a true technological enabler to drive operational efficiency and digital transformation in aviation”, said Rishi Mehta, President and CEO of WAISL Limited. “Through industry leaders like AWS, we aim to make airports smarter, safer, and more seamless for enhanced passenger experiences.”
“The air travel industry is making a strong comeback, and companies like WAISL are harnessing cloud, analytics, and AI technologies to enable airport operators address surging passenger demand more effectively,” said Pankaj Gupta, Leader – Public Sector, AWS India and South Asia. “Airport data is vast, and WAISL has developed a solution that makes it easy to analyse such data, and harness it effectively, relying on AWS for resiliency, scalability, security, and low latency. We look forward to supporting WAISL to accelerate innovation in air travel across India and beyond.”
Cloud and AI-powered Operations Hub
The digital twin-powered APOC will enable airports to integrate real-time situational awareness, predictive analytics, and the needed AI/ML capabilities to help prevent delays, overcrowding, and inefficiencies in resource allocation and optimise turnaround management.
To develop the APOC solution, WAISL used a range of AWS services providing AI, ML, and the Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, enabling to monitor and manage end-to-end airport operations. For example, the APOC can predict demand and potential disruptions by using Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed service to build, train, and deploy AL/ML models. Trained on historical and real-time data across an airport’s operations, the WAISL digital twin-powered APOC can optimise staffing and equipment deployment from check-in counters to security lanes and boarding gates.
This digital twin-powered APOC solution can monitor passenger flow, security checkpoints, and terminal areas using feed from closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Amazon MSK facilitates the flow of CCTV video footage to the solution in real-time while providing improved data redundancy during disruptions by replicating data securely across multiple AWS Availability Zones (AZ) within the AWS Asia Pacific Regions in India. Using an encrypted copy of the data stored in another AZ ensures uninterrupted service and passenger safety. AWS Regions ensure a secure, compliant, and scalable cloud environment at high availability and low latency that aligns with aviation industry regulations.
The digital twin-powered APOC solution also uses Amazon EKS to distribute workloads across available resources during peak travel periods. For example, during severe weather events that cause multiple flight changes, Amazon EKS can allocate more processing power to rebooking systems and customer service applications.