IT to be used increasingly for airport security
14.09.06
The recent increase in security measures at UK airports brought passenger check-in to a crawl, but IT could hold the key to normal services, Computing magazine reports. Airline's and Airport's IT directors are examining new technology to speed up airport processes including radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on boarding cards to track passengers and use of mobile phones for check-in, it adds.
Chaos erupted at UK airports in August when hand luggage restrictions were introduced. Technology used for hold baggage struggled with an increase in demand, leading to huge delays and thousands of cancelled flights. Ryanair IT director, Brona Kernan, told the magazine: 'A big problem with the restrictions on hand luggage is that 100 percent of baggage checked into the hold must be scanned. The technology could not cope with the sudden increase.'
New technologies being considered by airports include thermal imaging scanning devices, X-ray scanners, intelligent CCTV cameras that identify unusual behaviour, and devices to detect chemical odours. Airlines are also investing heavily in a range of technologies that allow and encourage self-service check-in.
Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt told Computing that RFID could be the answer to many airlines' and airport's problems. University College London is working on a project to integrate RFID chips on boarding cards with CCTV to reduce the number of passengers that arrive at gates late.
'This could let an airline know when a passenger has arrived, where they are and could transmit information before the passenger reaches the departure gate,' he said.
But Harteveldt says that while increased investment will be made in screening technologies, accuracy, reliability and cost are likely to be significant barriers for airports. 'I would be very surprised if biometric passports, such as fingerprint or iris identification, are not in place within two year. But the biggest issue is scalability and whether the technology can handle the huge volumes of passengers,' he added.
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