Mass travel by plane has increased steadily since the early 2000s, with the number of airline flights expected to reach 39.4 million globally in 2019. With that growth comes a rising need for reliable & intelligent access control systems to make air travel smoother and more secure and efficient for passengers, who endure long lines at check-in counters, security checks, and boarding gates. Biometric identification and facial recognition offer solutions for making these efficiencies possible. This data gathered from travelers enables airlines to more precisely grant turnstile access to passengers, while digital facility management systems can help major transportation hubs streamline their busy operations.
These are vital considerations for hubs like Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, which for 21 consecutive years has earned the title of “World’s Busiest Airport,” according to the trade group Airports Council International. The airport had 107.4 million passengers in 2018. Smart access control can allow passengers to enter checkpoints in a more efficient and reliable manner, and with less time-consuming security measures.
Intelligent Access in airports can address many business and operational challenges such as capacity shortfalls, declining revenues, increased competition, and outdated and unreliable IT infrastructure, while boosting passenger satisfaction.
Biometrics strengthen ID platform
The use of biometric data is becoming more common, allowing airports to speed up boarding procedures, reduce security personnel, and ensure rapid identification of unauthorized individuals.
Technology company Toshiba is setting an international benchmark in this field with its Face Recognition software. Because the software combines easily with other systems, dormakaba teamed up with the developers of RecFaces to create an integrated biometric identification platform based on Toshiba’s facial recognition algorithm.
The combined system incorporates the dormakaba access manager, a powerful control unit that can perform all tasks required for controlling and monitoring doors and locks. This tool can make access control decisions centrally or locally and features powerful, flexible standard functions for alarm and door management security.
This solution is available to verticals including business centers, banks, and industries. More advanced features for the solution will make it so that a passenger boarding a plane will only need to present a boarding pass or some other form of verification to gain access. Then, access manager 92 00 sends this request to the facial recognition system, which automatically triggers a camera. The camera instantly takes a photo and translates it into a biometric facial model. This data is transmitted to the cloud or a local database of the facial recognition system to validate the request. If the biometric data matches the information on the boarding pass, the turnstile allows the passenger through and closes upon entry.
Smart facility management in action
Digital solutions not only boost security but can also streamline operations and facility management processes.
One example of this application is at Oslo International Airport, which recently expanded its terminal to increase capacity from 17 million to 32 million passengers per year. During its reconstruction, the airport implemented a new database for asset tracking in facility management.
The Technical Information Database (TIDA) module— originally developed by dRofus, a former Norwegian software provider to the construction industry — serves as the central platform for tracking the airport’s equipment and assets.
The system assigns a unique identification number to each asset to physically mark all of the airport’s technical systems and each piece of equipment, and then store those records in a database.
This number functions as a key for reliable tracking and ensures a connection between data systems and equipment placement throughout the facility. The tracking system unifies all of the airport’s maintenance activities, malfunction messages and normal operations onto one platform.
The system registers each item with details about all relevant product features, allowing anyone with database access to easily reorder spare parts or monitor maintenance intervals. Under an existing service agreement, dormakaba helped to define all relevant product features in the database.
While the number of people catching a flight is unlikely to abate, leveraging the latest intelligent access-control technology can dramatically improve this experience. Thanks to the latest building technologies – and as part of the trend to make cities smarter – airports can create safer and more comfortable travel experiences for passengers, while making work easier and more efficient for airport employees.
