Upgraded airport security monitoring
Airports are typically busy and populous places, plus key elements of transport infrastructure, and so make tempting targets for terrorists. Airport security must protect aircraft, passengers, crew and airport infrastructure from a considerable variety of threats. The EU-funded TASS (Total airport security system) project developed a complex intelligence and security system for airports. The system provides accurate, real-time situational awareness to airport authorities. The concept integrates various sensors and subsystems, including biometric and non-biometric ID verification, for data collection. The system divides airports into six security control segments, each being monitored by numerous combined technologies. The fused control segments are centralised via an online portal and available to airport authorities. The system thus provides a complete security overview of an entire airport. Researchers tested the technologies at three European airports representing various levels: Heathrow, United Kingdom; Faro, Portugal; and Athens, Greece. During the project’s first year, researchers defined and started deploying the TASS concept. Second-year work involved mapping and classifying potential threats to airports. Hence, the team identified additional user requirements. The supplementary list allowed for prioritisation of the project’s technologies. The team also assessed human, social and organisational aspects of current security systems against operational requirements. Second-year work further involved development of various system elements. The team customised front-end systems to airport environments. Next, the team planned and executed the proof of concept demonstration at Heathrow. All front- and back-end systems were tested and four different threat scenarios successfully demonstrated. Each scenario involved fusion of various sensor feeds into an intelligent, actionable alert. The demonstration proved that the system works as intended. During the final year, the consortium first planned and then performed successful field tests at each of the three airports. The tests demonstrated a capacity to deal with seven threat scenarios. The benefits of TASS should be substantial. Of course, the system achieves an improvement in airport security; in addition, the new systems will have technological and economic impact.
Keywords
Airport security, security system, TASS, situational awareness
