Marshals equipped with real-time monitoring software to enforce Covid rules at Delhi airport

If you’re at the Delhi airport and not maintaining social distancing, or sitting on a seat that needs to be left vacant, or not following the floor markings, then a team of marshals, armed with a device monitoring your movement, will reach you within minutes to make sure you follow the Covid norms. As many as 200 marshals have been deployed with hand-held devices and walkie-talkies to keep eye on passengers, airport authorities said.

Officials from the Delhi airport said the passenger tracking system, known as XOVIS, buzzes an alarm, directing marshals to the area where social distancing is being violated. The real-time movement of a passenger is tracked with the help of more than 500 sensors that the airport operator DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited) has got installed across Terminal 3 (T3). The facility currently is only working at T3 and, if deemed successful, will be extended to the other two terminals, officials said.

An official in the know of the matter said the device was already being used in T3 to calculate time taken by passengers at check-in queues or for security checks so that such processes can be further streamlined and expedited.

Around 516 sensors have been installed in T3 and 16 more are going to be installed at the terminal’s entry gates. Officials said more sensors will be installed outside the terminal, in the parking and forecourt area.

CEO, DIAL, Videh Jaipuriar said on Tuesday that keeping in mind the resumption of international flights, which may happen any time now, the passenger tracking system is being used to monitor social distancing since last week.

“Based on images, computed directly by the ceiling-mounted sensors, passengers, seen as a dots on the screens, are counted and tracked anonymously. This allows authorities to quickly identify crowded areas and bottlenecks. The system generates auto alerts and prompts airport officials to act swiftly as soon as it identifies a crowd at the terminal. If the situation is not brought under control within a stipulated time, it again issues alerts, this time to higher management,” Jaipuriar said.