Inspiration

The inspiration for Better Boarding came from the inefficiencies in the airport boarding process. We wanted to leverage AI to optimize boarding groups, saving passengers valuable time and improving the overall experience.

What it does

Better Boarding is a web application powered by a genetic algorithm backend that optimizes airport boarding groups. It uses a Python-based Docker container deployed on Google Cloud Run to simulate the optimal boarding process, while the frontend is hosted on Vercel. The system dynamically adapts boarding groups based on real-time input to improve the flow.

How we built it

We used Terraform to manage and provision the infrastructure for both the frontend and backend. The frontend is a Next.js app hosted on Vercel, and the backend is a Python application running in a Docker container on Google Cloud Run. The frontend communicates with the backend via HTTP requests, and the genetic algorithm optimizes the boarding groups based on the input data.

Challenges we ran into

A significant challenge we faced was synchronizing the frontend and backend due to CORS issues. Configuring proper headers and handling preflight requests took some time to get right. Additionally, the genetic algorithm was resource-constrained by our cloud deployment, leading to performance bottlenecks when processing larger datasets or running more complex simulations.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully built and deployed a fully functional web application with a cloud-based backend using Google Cloud Run and a modern frontend hosted on Vercel. The genetic algorithm works to optimize boarding groups, which demonstrates our ability to implement AI in a real-world scenario.

What we learned

We learned how to automate cloud infrastructure deployment using Terraform, work with Google Cloud Run to run containerized applications, and deploy a production-ready frontend using Vercel. We also gained valuable experience in troubleshooting CORS issues and optimizing algorithms for cloud environments.

What's next for Better Boarding

Next, we plan to improve the accuracy of the genetic algorithm by incorporating additional variables, such as flight delays and seat preferences. We also aim to scale the application to handle larger airports and explore ways to refine the user interface for an even smoother experience.