New RFID tech would track airport passengers

CNet
Posted:Oct 13, 2006

The inventors of a new monitoring system that uses RFID tags claimit could improve airport security by tracking passengers as they minglein the departure lounge.

The plan is to issue an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to every passenger at check-in so human traffic can be monitored throughout the airport via transponders and video cameras.

Paul Brennan, an electrical engineer at University College London, heads the project, which features an RFID technology called Optag.Funded by the European Union, the technology is being developed by aconsortium of European companies and the university. Brennan toldSilicon.com that a prototype RFID tag will be tested in an airport inHungary next month.

Brennan said that if the trials in Hungary are a success and the technology attracts customers, it could arrive in airports within two years.

Brennan said Optag has been designed to improve airport security byvirtue of its ability to track the movement of suspicious passengers,which would enable security personnel to bar them from enteringrestricted areas.

The ability to locate individuals could also aid airports in anevacuation situation, he said, and in finding lost children andpassengers who are late to the departure gate.

Optag's big range, big challenges

Optag is different from its RFID predecessors in that standard RFIDdevices have a range of only a few centimeters. Optag, by contrast, hasa range of 10 to 20 meters, and its wearer can be located within aradius of 1 meter, Brennan said.

The Optag project is now nearing completion but there are still somesizeable hurdles to real-world implementation, such as figuring out howto get the tags to operate properly in an airport, developing a systemthat ensures people will wear them, and allaying concerns over civilliberty infringements, said Brennan.

He added the device is "not intended to know who's doing what, althoughit might be that security needs to pinpoint certain individuals."

The design of the device that would contain the Optag is still notfinalized. Brennan said RFID-tagged wristbands could be used but notedthat they can be taken off and swapped between individuals.

A possible option is to use cameras to scan the tag-wearer's face andverify that it matches the correct Optag ID, but such a system could beused only in certain areas of an airport, according to Brennan.

Brennan said installation of the systems required to run Optag wouldalso be very disruptive to existing airports. Installation could occureasily, however, at airports under construction, such Heathrow's T5.

As currently configured, the tag does not store any data but might incorporate biometric data in the future, Brennan added.

Optag is primarily aimed at improving airport security, but Brennansaid "anywhere where a large number of people are, this hasapplications."