This week, Team ASE got together and stepped back from technology to look at our problem space again. We had more discussions and conducted more research on the ‘people’ at the airport to understand the human aspect and factors that might influence the airport operation. Also, we mapped the incoming airport operation system in more detail. This helped us find out the gap that we can develop our concept within the airport system.

Several problems we needed to address were:

1. Lengthy process for clearing
2. Visual monitoring effectiveness
3. Misuse of the customs’ authority
4. Human access before scanning
5. Technical drawbacks/limitations

Interview with James Martin

As the illicit drug problem is a complex and complicated issue, we were keen to meet with experts in the field to enhance our knowledge. Fortunately, we got a great opportunity to speak with James Martin, an expert on the dark net and online trade in illicit drugs who conducts research and works closely with relevant police operations.

With an online anonymous market, the dark web increases the accessibility for individual drug dealers. Illicit drugs can easily come into the country from online orders through the international postage system. Also, profiling drug traffickers allows the trust between seller and purchaser. It helps us understand the behaviours surrounding drug trafficking.

James also discussed the future trend of the drug issue. A British researcher David Nutt demonstrated that alcohol is more harmful than most illicit drugs. So, if alcohol is more harmful, why is alcohol legal while illicit drugs are still banned? It might be a huge potential trend of decriminalising drugs in the future as there have been several countries have legalised certain types of drugs.

“This is more complex than we thought…”

We are excited about the findings from the interview. Our next steps would be to keep doing research around these new potential trends and start the prototyping of our concept.