A Surveillance-and-Blockchain-based Tracking System for Mitigation of Baggage Mishandling at Smart Airports

Baggage mishandling has received much attention by airport operators. Traditional baggage tracking methods (e.g., manual, barcode, and radio-frequency identification) have not been able to deal with the challenge of baggage mishandling due to their unreliable and inefficient performance. Baggage data comprises sensitive personal information, linking individuals to their personal details and travel history, with the potential to expose security vulnerabilities. This paper proposes a smart baggage tracking system based on surveillance and blockchain technology for mitigation of baggage mishandling at airports. Surveillance including a network of airport cameras is used to recognize and monitor locations of baggage and passengers. Blockchain technology is utilized to manage and process baggage and passenger databases, guaranteeing the security, privacy, and transparency of baggage information. Surveillance-captured images of baggage and passengers undergo processing through computer vision algorithms to determine the current whereabouts of baggage, subsequently synchronized and updated within the blockchain storage. Additionally, a user interface is developed to present real-time baggage tracking information. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated the applicability of the smart baggage tracking system for airports.