Grasp Innovations has been successfully revealed to the aviation sector for the first time at Passenger Terminal Expo. The new company, which is a spin-off from well-known aviation security consultancy firm Point FWD, will offer people counting and measurement solutions for the airport industry. Grasp and Point FWD are sharing booth 5135, with Point FWD offering advice on implementing explosives detection systems for cabin baggage (EDS-CB).
Grasp works with Xandar-Kardian – a dedicated technology provider from South Korea to develop solutions. Xandar-Kardian focuses on advanced radar signal processing. Its impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) radar-based algorithms enable a broad range of solutions, from accurate occupancy sensing and people counting to life sign monitoring and high-level security.
Robert Schuur, co-founder of GRASP, said, “The idea for Grasp came out of Point FWD’s work. Point FWD advises airports on how they can improve the efficiency of their security checkpoints. To enable us to do this we gather data on the security process, such as how long it takes a passenger to pass through the checkpoint. In the past this data has been captured manually, so we started looking at ways to automate the process. That is where Grasp comes in.”
Grasp will operate as a separate company to Point FWD and will focus on the entire airport experience rather than just security. Currently, the new business is working with a couple of airports in the Netherlands. “We have also received extremely positive feedback on the company at PTE,” added Schuur.
He continued, “The vision we have for Grasp is that through the technology we will enable operational excellence. We will use the technology to measure things like waiting times, throughput, seating availability, etc, and then we will use the data gathered to look at how operations can be improved.”
Alongside Grasp, Point FWD is focusing on its consulting services in the area of EDS-CB. Robin van Gemert, consultant at Point FWD, explained more, “We are helping airports successfully implement EDS-CB systems. We advise airports on how to make the right machine selections based on data we have gathered about their security operations. Recently we have worked with several regional Dutch airports and we are now working with Brisbane airport running a six-month trial.”