Airport of tomorrow might have virtual intelligence agents that check your bags

The airport of tomorrow might have virtual intelligence agents that check your bags, “smart dust” sensor networks that vet passengers heading through security and commuter pilots who fly the plane from a home office. That is, if Dave Evans’ vision is to be believed.
As chief technologist for Cisco Systems’ Internet Business Solutions Group Innovations Team, Evans set the stage Tuesday for technology innovations that will help shape the future of airport travel here at the opening of the FAA/NASA/Industry Airport Planning Workshop. “This is a great time to innovate,” Evans said as he delivered the keynote speech at the two-day conference held at NASA’s Ames Research Center here. Airport screeners, for example, could remotely identify and check in passengers carrying a cell phone or document embedded with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip. Digital displays in airport terminals could be used to show real-time data on arrivals and departures. They could also be used to change a tarmac color to signify a landing, Evans said.
What’s more, advances in so-called brain-machine interfaces, which enable people to prompt actions with thought via electronic wires to the brain, could bring opportunities in remote flying, he said.

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