WaitStat | Devpost

WaitStat gives real-time waiting times statuses for airport security lines. WaitStat is a combination of hardware sensors and an internet service. The hardware sensors detect line lengths and publishes the information to the internet.

Technical details: The sensors are placed throughout the waiting line path (see Figure 1). The sensors are placed in predefined locations where the waiting time is known (similar to the signs that say "Your wait time from here is 20 minutes"). When a person is waiting in front of a sensor, the sensor communicates the information to a centralized system, and the system can calculate how long the line is.

The system publishes the waiting times online to the internet. The information can then be displayed on websites or apps so that travelers can check the status before going to the airport.

Historical statistics for wait times are available so that users can look up approximate waiting times for any travel day. For example, travelers can query the historical waiting time for SFO at 7PM on December 24th.

Related concepts:

The project can be extended to baggage check-in lines for airlines.
Waiting time information can also be crowdsourced, in which people post how long they've been waiting from their phone, in order to increase the accuracy.

Inspiration: Every year, I travel from California to Pennsylvania to visit my family for Thanksgiving, the busiest travel season of the year. The unpredictable lines at the airport always cause me anxiety - I'm never really sure what time I should arrive at the airport in order to make it through security to catch my flight on time. I always wished there was a way for me to check the security line lengths before my flight so that I can plan what time to arrive at the airport for my flight.

Target user: This service is targeted towards anyone that uses air travel.

Key features: