Design of Mobile Application for Travelers to Transport Baggage and Handle Check-In Process

In this paper, an Android based application called ‘Baggage Check-in Handling System’ is developed for helping travelers/passengers transport their baggage to the airport and handle the check-in process. It is merging the idea of online baggage check-in, and tracking technology together. The application is stimulated from the rapid growth of on-demand ride services, such as UberX and Lyft and the wide spread adoption of smart-phones. The proposed system enables travelers to make an appointment before the flight’s take-off by requesting a driver to pick up the traveler’s baggage to transport to the airport. Then, travelers can track the driver’s location using Geographical Position System (GPS). Eventually after the checkin process, the driver will send a unique barcode provided for the baggage to travelers through the application. As a result, the traveler will have the choice of directly proceeding to the flight gate. The application is created for Android platform operating system, and developed in Java programming language using the Android software development kit (SDK). Additionally, data between database and server have been exchanged using phpMyAdmin. The application uses an authentication technique called Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA). This technique is designed to improve the scalability of authentication and reduce the overhead of access control. Keywords—Baggage handling system; tracking technology; baggage barcode; android platform; Android software development kit (SDK); phpMyAdmin, Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)