Soon, use elevators touchless way at Hyderabad airport

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport introduces infrared-technology based touchless elevators which operate when a palm or finger is held up against the buttons on the elevator

In a move to ensure a completely contact-less commute, the Hyderabad international airport has decided to set all their passenger elevators up with an infrared-technology based touch-less elevator control system, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad announced in a tweet.

This technology was first piloted at one of the departure terminal elevators, where passengers could call the elevator to the floor with just a wave of their hands near the sensor. Once in, all the passengers need to do is point their finger at the floor-number button, as per their choice.

This technology has been previously used by smartphone and laptop companies, wherein, the user can command their devices to perform certain functions solely by gestures.

“The sensor can detect interaction from a distance of 0.1-10 cm from the button surface to enable users to make their selection with absolutely no physical contact. With the successful culmination of the pilot project, the airport is going ahead with enabling all passenger facing elevators across the airport terminal building for this automation,” the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), said in a statement.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

Earlier, the RGIA had brought in various Covid-19 related precautionary technology such as zero-contact and fully sanitized services like self-check-in kiosks, tech-enabled entry gates where the passengers need to display their documents onto a high-definition camera installed at the domestic departures terminal gates of the RGIA. The airport is also equipped with a self-baggage drop facility and a virtual information desk for passengers.

To ensure zero-contact right from the airport’s door-step, upon arrival, the passengers are required to step in front of the thermal cameras at each departure gate, besides the document verification cameras at the domestic terminal to measure their temperatures in a non-intrusive way. UV enabled disinfection of Automatic Tray Retrieval Systems (ATRS), UV ovens at the retail food outlets, touchless drinking water fountains are among other tech-savvy installments at the RGIA.