Heathrow begins new biometric tracking pilot
Passengers will scan their fingerprints at self-service kiosks or ticket counters; some will receive iris and face scans; only Emirites and Cathay Pacific flights to Dubai and Hong King effected; Accenture, IER, Raytheon, Sagem Defense Securite, and Sita provided the technology
Call it putting a finger to the wind. British airport authorities at London’s Heathrow airport this week initiated a fingerprint and iris scanning pilot program that permits for secure identity authentication at multiple stages of the boarding process. The miSpace program, which is voluntary for passengers and only available for those travelling on Emirates and Cathay Pacific flights to and from Dubai and Hong Kong, is intended to speed up transit times, but unlike the American Registered Travel program, it does not permit facilitated screening.
miSpace has both simple and advanced procedures. The standard program requires passengers to scan their passport and right index finger at the self-service kiosk at which they obtain a boarding pass — thus providing the opportunity for a check against various watchlists and databases. The fingerprint is again scanned at various automatic barriers and then again at the boarding gate, where a visual identification check is also performed.
Under the more advanced program, however, the passenger provides ten fingerprints, two iris scans, and a facial scan. This data is uploaded onto a smartcard to be used on future journeys. When the passenger returns to the airport, he checks in in a normal fashion, and when arriving at immigration he scans the card at a security gate and then scans their fingerprint. If the two match, he is admitted.
Companies involved in providing the technology include: Accenture, IER, Raytheon, Sagem Defense Securite, and Sita.
-read more in Andy McCue’s Silicon.com report
