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Design and Construction of an Automated Baggage Sorting System

Conference Paper · December 2012

DOI: 10.1109/ICECE.2012.6471486

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2012 7th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering 66
20-22 December, 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Design and Construction of an Automated Baggage

Sorting System
Aashique Alam Rezwan, Sabbir Hasan, Pratyasha Prachurja and Minhajul Anwar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
Dhaka, Bangladesh
aashiquear@gmail.com

Abstract—Baggage sorting is one of the major requirements
for rapid processing in an airport. For larger airport automated
system is must to match with the dynamic world. But there are
many small to medium size airports handling between 1.5 and 6
million passengers a year, still haven’t automated. For many of
these airports, there are still big gains to be made – in cost, time,
efficiency and sorting quality – by introducing automated
sorting system. The problem for many of those airports is
finding the right systems to do the job. Because in many cases,
solutions are designed primarily for the larger airports where
much of the automation market is to be found are not cost
effective for lower volume environments, and often those system
cannot be accommodated within the space constraints of smaller
terminal buildings. In the present project, an automated
baggage handling and sorting system has been designed using
microcontroller so that it could be cheaply implemented on a
small size terminal with a low cost. A small scale model of the
project has also been constructed. The sorting system is based
on bar code reading and tracking of the baggage in a terminal.
The baggages are then diverted to their destined terminal using
a gate control system. The model can also be used in any
packaging and distribution system.
Index Terms—Baggage Sorting, Airport Terminal,
Microcontroller, Bit Tag Reading.
services, parcel services, factories where a lot of packaging is
being done.
II. OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT
In the present project, the Automated Baggage Sorting
System is designed with the basis of barcode reading and gate
control system. In this project we simplify the barcode to a bit
counter reader, which is easier to detect and read. The
principle behind this is that, when light incidents on a white
object it would reflect most of the incident light and when
light incidents on a black object the light does not reflect. So,
we use a band of three white and black strips, which
represents the number of a particular terminal, in a form of
bits, where the baggage is destined to go. So, we use an LDR
(Light Dependent Resistor) to detect whether there is
reflection or not. If the illumination of light is very high, then
the resistance of the LDR decreases and a detectable voltage
is appeared across the LDR. This voltage is passed to a
microcontroller to count the total bit and make a decision.
After counting the total bits, it will initiate another
microcontroller to control the particular gate to divert the
baggage on the specific terminal.

I. INTRODUCTION
At big airports there's no doubt about it - automated
baggage handling is the only way to go. But many smaller-to-
medium size airports still haven't automated, or have done so
to only a limited extent. There are over 100 airports handling
between 1.5 and 6 million [1],[2] passengers a year in Europe
alone. For many of them, there are still big gains to be made -
in cost, time, efficiency and sorting quality - by introducing
automated sorting.
The problem for many of those airports is finding the right
systems to do the job. Because in many cases, solutions are
designed primarily for the larger airports where much of the
automation market is to be found are not cost-effective for
lower volume environments. And as well as that, those
systems often cannot be accommodated within the space
constraints of smaller terminal buildings - many of which
have to handle today's constantly increasing passenger and
baggage volumes in facilities that were originally built for
much lower traffic levels.
Solutions designed for larger airports are not cost-effective
for lower volume environments and often can't be
accommodated in smaller terminal buildings. So, in the Fig. 1 Data Flow Diagram of the Project
present project work, we are eager to find an easy and simple
To handle the baggage we use conveyer belt, made with
solution for those lower volume environments. Not only for
rubber, to transport the baggage from passenger to the bit
the small size airports but also for other services like courier
counting section, and to the gate. The conveyer belt is driven
by a geared DC motor. The two gates are made with acrylic
978-1-4673-1436-7/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
 67

plastic mounted on a Stainless Steel Shafts. The gates are

driven by two separate stepping motor to open before a
baggage comes infront of the gate and close after it has been
diverted by the gates opening. The process will continue by
sorting and diverting the baggage to the destination terminal
single baggage at a time.

III. CIRCUIT DESIGN

A. Bit Reading OUTPUT
In bit reader circuit an LDR has been used to detect the
light reflection. When the reflection of light is maximum the
resistance of the LDR decreases, as a result the base of the
transistor Q1 (fig. 2) is shorted with the source and current
flows from the collector to the emitter. It gives a pulse to the
base of transistor Q2 and it gives the output pulse. So, when
there is light reflection an output pulse is generated which is
fed into the microcontroller input. Three bit tag has been used
for the small scale model. The first bit (white) is used to
detect the baggage in the terminal. The next two bit has been
given the information about the terminal number (fig. 3).
Fig. 2 Bit Reading Circuit
B. Bit Counter and Main Control Circuit
The input from bit reader circuit is fed into the pin 23 [3]
of an ATMega8 Microcontroller, which is an ADC pin (fig.
4). The voltage supplied from the bit reader circuit is
compared by the ADC of the ATMega8 microcontroller.
There is three bit in the baggage which we use. The first bit is
for detecting the baggage (fig. 3). So, when the ADC detects
voltage over 1.4V it initiates the counter module. The counter
module read 2 inputs between 400ms time delays. Then it
sums up the bits and makes the decision of which terminal
the baggage would go. The outputs are in two forms. It
displays the terminal number in the LCD display, as well as it
gives an output pulse from pin 2, 3, 4 to the stepping
controller microcontroller.
Fig. 3 Bit Tags (Sample)

Fig. 4 Bit Counter and Main Control Circuit

 68

Fig. 5 Data Flow Diagram of Main Control Module

Fig. 6 Stepping Motor Control Circuit

C. Stepping Motor Control Circuit
When the microcontroller of stepping motor control circuit
receives input signal from the main controller circuit it
operates sequence for the certain stepper motor. The
programme code for the main control circuit and stepping
motor circuit has been described in [4].
IV. STRUCTURE DESIGN
The structure was made of mild still plate and stainless
steel pipe (fig. 7). DPI629z [5] ball bearing has been used to
support the roller. A rubber stripe has been used for
fabricating the conveyor belt. 24V geared motor has been used
to drive the driving roller of the conveyor belt.
The gate has been made of acrylic sheet and stainless steel
roller. The stainless steel roller is directly driven by the
stepper motor.
The bit reader module has been placed on an acrylic sheet
box, which covered the conveyer belt at the entry section of
the baggages. All the baggages passed through this section
and have been tracked all the way long through the conveyer
belt.
 69

Fig. 8 Automated Baggage Sorting System

Fig. 7 Assembly Drawing of the Structure VIII. CONCLUSIONS

V. TESTING In this project, an Automated Baggage Sorting and
Handling system has been designed. The designed is based on
After fabrication the project has been tested for different reading the bit tags on the baggages and diverting them to
conditions. The system has been run for an entire day in a their destination according to the bit tags on the top of the
normal environment. Three baggages of scale model with baggages. A small scale model of the project has also been
scaled weight with specific bit tags have been put on the constructed and tested under different conditions. The test
conveyer belt and monitor their movement through the system. result was found as expected. The model shows an efficient
The baggages are readily tracked through the bit reading way of handling baggages. The designed system can easily be
module and the gate was successfully operated. There was no implemented in any small to medium airport for sorting and
time lag in operating the gates and weight of the baggages did handling baggages. This can certainly saves time and human
not create any problem to divert the baggages to their destined effort in sorting baggages in the terminal. The human error on
terminal. There was a slight vibration in the conveyor belt due misplacing any baggage can also be eliminated. The
to improper gear meshing in the driving roller for the management in baggage handling can be increased very much.
conveyor belt. All the testing has been running successfully as The similar kind of system can also be implemented in any
expected. packaging industries where a large number of goods are
VI. DESIGN FEATURES packed in everyday and distribute to different locations.
The present design represents several key features, which ACKNOWLEDGMENT
can be noted. The authors are very much grateful to the Dept. of
1. Reduce time in baggage detection Mechanical Engineering, BUET for giving the opportunity
2. Automatically handle the baggage and scope for developing the project. They are also
3. No chance of baggage missing expressing their gratitude to the laboratory and machine shop
4. Eliminate the miss management in baggage sorting personnel for their constant help in fabricating the circuit and
5. Simple bit reading system the structure.
6. Design by using low cost material with high strength for
longevity REFERENCES
7. Can be easily accomplished in bigger scale [1] Automated Baggage Handling and Sorting (2007), Airport
International, [Online], Available: http://www.airport-
VII. DEVELOPMENT int.com/article/automated-baggage-handling-and-sorting.html
[2] Baggage and Cargo Handling Systems and Equipment, Airport
The following developments can be made on this project: Technology [Online], Available: http://www.airport-
1. The bit counting system can be replaced by image technology.com/contractors/baggage
processing [3] “ATMega8L Data Sheet”, Atmel Corporation, Orchad Parkway, San
2. Instead of using conveyer belt, roller can be used Jose, CA, USA
[4] Anwar, M., Rezwan, A. A., Hasan, S. and Prachurja, P., Automated
3. Tilting tray can be used instead of gate for diverting the
Baggage Sorting Machine, Undergraduate Project Book, Dept. of
baggage in a certain direction Mechanical Engineering, BUET, 2010
4. Magnetic detector can be use within the system to detect [5] 629z Deep Groove Ball Bearing, Made in China, [Online], Available:
any metal explosive are being carried by the passengers http://nb-jinhe.en.made-in-china.com/product/NeEmrQlVvihz/China-
Deep-Groove-Ball-Bearing-629Z-.html
5. This system can also be adopted for sorting
manufactured product in a factory
6. Packaging system can also be added with the sorting
system for a complete manufacturing process

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