epcSolutions solves the tailgating problem
Company’s Tetragate software combines video, iris scans, and RFID to prevent unauthorized entry by piggybackers; system counts the number of people near an entry point before and after card authorization; “any asset, one network” approach allows objects to be tagged to a person, thereby preventing theft
Tailgating is dangerous, both in the automobile and the access security senses of the word. No secure access system worth its salt should permit an authorized person to piggyback on the access rights of another to sneak into a facility. Fortunately, Great Falls, Virginia-based epcSolutions has developed a solution, one that relies on a clever combination of RFID tags, biometrics, and video analytics to ensure that only one person is admitted through a door at a time and that that person is authorized to do so.
The so-called Tetragate software solution begins by issuing all employees RFID-enabled identification cards. Located at the checkpoint are RFID sensors, a card reader, and a number of cameras, some used to oversee the entire entry area and others for a facial recognition scan used to match the card to the person. When a person approaches the access point, the RFID sensors combine with the wide-angle cameras to count the number of authorized and unauthorized people in the vicinity. Then, once a person has been authenticated by his card and a facial scan and admitted through the gate, the system determines if anyone else is missing from the entry area. If so, security personnel are alerted to a possible tailgating incident.
Tetragate also offers the opportunity to associate assets within a zone, a technology epcSolutions calls “Any Asset, One Network.” By tagging a laptop or other valuable instrument with an RFID tag, and then associating that tag with one belonging to an individual’s ID card, the software can be programmed to permit entry or exit to “Bob with Bob’s computer” but not “Jim with Bob’s computer.”
Tetragate partners include American Barcode and RFID (autoID and barcode solutions), Fulcrum Biometrics (VeriLook face identification technology), Infinova (IP cameras for facial recognition), Symbol Technologies (Gen2 RFID readers), and Zebra Card (Gen2 EPC/RFID card encoding).
-read more in this Telematics report
