Automated Passenger Authentication: IER SpeedBoarding® Gates

Over the last five years, life-size tests and early deployments worldwide have proved the cost-effectiveness of gate readers in combination with high tech automated gates as well as the time-saving and security benefits they provide.

Boarding Gate Security

However, safety regulations at boarding gates are not homogeneous and are constantly evolving. The trend is to have them tightened: security controls are adding up and the request for the authentication of passengers at boarding gates is on the rise as well. This growing demand for passenger authentication at boarding has initiated the need for a new generation of automated boarding gates that can also authenticate the passenger ID. Their dual objective now is first, to make sure that the passenger passing through the gate is who he (she) claims to be and, second, that he (she) is entitled to board the plane.

Automated Biometric Passenger Authentication: A Must

Biometrics are necessary to enlarge the gate’s capabilities of achieving passenger authentication. They could be either fingerprint capture, or iris or face scanning, as no international standard has been set in stone yet. However, fingerprint scanning currently seems to be the most favored technology.

The basic process of automated passenger authentication is to have the biometric data of the passenger scanned while he (she) is standing in the gate, to instantly compare this data to an existing biometric template of the same passenger and to check if both match. The second step is to check whether this passenger ID is included in the list of passengers who checked-in for the flight. The biometric data is sufficient to perform both steps and reading the boarding pass is not necessary.

The reference biometric template will have been captured previously in a safe environment. Multiple capture and storage processes can be considered. Passengers involved in Frequent Flyer programs, for instance, could go through a specific and secured enrolment process once and for all and have their biometric template stored in their Frequent Flyer smartcard. Once inside the gate, the passenger will have his (her) stored biometric template read by an RF reader integrated in the gate while his (her) biometric data is captured by a fingerprint sensor. If both data match, the authentication of the passenger is confirmed; if not, access to the plane through the automated gate is denied and the passenger is directed to an agent. For greater safety and privacy, the reference template cannot be read out from the card but only used internally by the matching process. This biometric match-on-card technology is currently being applied on the growing market of national identity cards (NID in Portugal and Thailand…)

Another possibility is to have the biometric template created under the supervision of an agent at a previous step of the passenger travel, while he is checking-in or at the baggage drop off spot, and save it in a temporary database. The biometric ID control process would compare the data captured at the gate to this fingerprint database.

Reliable Boarding Gate Technology To Secure Biometric Data Capture

To secure the scanning process at boarding, the new gates must physically prevent any fraud and in particular any possibility of passenger substitution after the passenger ID has been authenticated. In order to do so, they will have to be equipped with a reliable electronic detection device ensuring that only one person is inside the gate.

Common Use Middleware

To suit airports’ and airlines’ specific needs, the next generation boarding gates will have to be both modular and upgradeable with biometric device(s), RF readers, barcode reader(s) able to read 2D barcode boarding passes either printed on paper (PDF 417) or displayed on cell phone screens (Aztec, QR Code, Datamatrix).The integration of such modules is quite similar to the one done in the now common self-service check-in kiosks. With minimum development work, the same common use middleware can be easily adapted to drive and interface all the components of the new self-boarding gates as well.

The IER SpeedBoarding® Gates (SBG) are a complete self boarding solution that can also include, besides the high technology gate, the self-boarding applications as well as the gate monitoring system. The SBG can be completed with biometric devices so as to perform passenger authentication as well.

SpeedBoarding^®Gates Benefits:

• Optimized boarding staff management
• Secure: enhanced fraud detection
• Quick deployment thanks to its boarding gate reader emulation mode (no DCS modification needed)
• Perfect for transition from ATB to BC boarding passes
• One stop shopping: complete IER self boarding solution including the gate, the self boarding applications and the gate monitoring system