Published: Aug 20, 2025
sustaining airport operations with next-generation video analytics for enhanced efficiency and security
A renowned airport was grappling with multiple challenges stemming from its obsolete and inaccurate video analytics (VA) platform, resulting in poor user experiences and an inability to update the technology to meet 12 critical operational use cases for airport operations. These included facial recognition, retail analytics, crowd and queue management, tailgating, intrusion detection, trolley counting, locating lost passengers, unattended objects detection, license plate recognition, vehicle counting, and aircraft parking clearance and operations management. Recognising the need for a strategic overhaul, our VAP Consultancy team adopted a structured three-phase approach, covering Assessment, Recommendation, and Technology Roadmap Development to enable the airport to define a clear vision for its VA platform transformation. This framework not only provided clarity and direction but also demonstrated our commitment to delivering impactful consultancy services, reinforcing NCS’ role as a trusted partner in its ongoing digital transformation journey.
The challenge:
The current video analytics platform (VAP), developed and managed by a third-party provider, is outdated and at end-of-life (EOL). With support and updates discontinued, it has become a sunset system with no planned technical refresh. This has resulted in potential reliability issues, heightened security and maintenance (S&M) risks, and an inability to meet the airport’s evolving operational needs. Furthermore, the number of supported use cases has dropped from 12 to 5, largely due to misaligned user expectations and installation limitations, particularly camera placement, which restricted the platform’s ability to deliver its intended functionality.
The solution:
To address these challenges, NCS provided comprehensive consultancy services and a holistic overhaul approach for HKIA, aimed at designing and building a next-generation Video Analytics Platform (VAP 2.0).
Our services included three key phases:
- Assessment Phase – Conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the current infrastructure to understand capabilities and identify areas for enhancement
- Recommendation Phase – Delivered tailored recommendations based on the assessment findings such as hardware upgrades, software solutions, and operational process changes
- Roadmap and Specification Phase – Developed a detailed roadmap, including activity timelines, resource allocation, robust risk management strategies, and key performance indicators
Snapshot of capabilities:
NCS intelligent video analytics (NIVA), video integration & management, visual language model (VLM), AI model training, dataset management, system & network architecture
The impact:
Our VAP Consultancy team delivered quality consultancy services across all three phases, reinforcing our role as a trusted partner in the client’s ongoing digital transformation journey.
- Conducted over 7 workshops, experience-sharing sessions, best practice, recommendation reviews and implementation sessions with relevant stakeholders to support the transition to VAP 2.0
- Delivered gap analysis findings and a proposed roadmap for integration and infrastructure
- Provided guidelines for implementing VA technology to serve as a basis for evaluating departmental VA requests before issuing Requests for Information (RFIs). These guidelines also help educate end-users and ensure alignment with the airport’s operational goals