Final Report Summary - AIR-SEAL (An Innovative RFID Security SEAL for Aircraft Galley Trolleys)
Executive Summary:
Airlines are one of the most security conscious areas of industry. Every year billions of Euros are spent on aviation security and thousands of man-hours are taken up with carrying out extensive security checks. These are designed to combat the techniques now being adopted by modern terrorist groups, which are intended to cause personal fear and economic disruption. Airport security systems are however effective and have been successful in deterring in-flight terrorist attacks.
One area where this is a particular concern is in the security control and movement tracking of aircraft galley trolleys and canisters. Existing security measures have been effective at preventing terrorism mainly due to the closed supply chains. However, since the September 11th terrorism attacks in the United States catering services throughout the world have been seen as the weakest link in the aviation industry’s supply chain.
The Air-Seal consortium identified a gap in the market for a retrofit and new integrated technology that can provide a complete traceability and security service for trolleys, in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
The Air-Seal system is a second generation of security seal and locking solution, capable of electronically monitoring the integrity of an aircraft catering and duty-free trolley. Immune to compromise, duplication or tamper its use is not limited to such containers with wider applications in the airline cargo logistics sector being envisaged in the medium term and other security conscious sectors over the longer term.
Current sealing and locking technologies are time consuming to administer correctly, are prone to inconsistencies due to human involvement and can be overcome without being easily identified. In addition no single solution is available that provides both a locking and sealing as one single entity or has the ease of operation or audit to prove that a container’s integrity has been maintained from point of loading to the point of it being onboard the airplane.
Project Context and Objectives:
Air-Seal is a two-year project, funded via the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme within the 'Research for the benefit of SMEs' scheme. This summary highlights the projects background and objectives for the second reporting period and consortium participants.
High Level Scope
Air-Seal is an innovative Security Seal for the Aerospace industry. The Air-Seal system will be used during the storage and transport of inflight service trollies whilst outside secure areas and will only allow access to airport security and airline personnel with the appropriate electronic security device.
This retrofitted electronic security system monitors the sealing and opening of food and duty free trolleys. Access is controlled and recorded centrally and can be set to be location dependent. Any tampering with the trolley will be detected.
The key characteristics of the project are:
* Record all actions on the lock and location of the lock
* Provide secure access via a centrally controlled user id
* Display the current security status on the lock itself
* Detect and record any opening of the trolley
* Offer asset tracking
Project Results:
Operator Benefits:
The Air-Seal product gives operators an improved security lock and seal for the assets in transit, reducing asset losses across their supply chain by removing the potential for goods to be removed or added outside known locations to otherwise secure containers.
It provides a secure sealing system controlling which individuals are responsible for sealing and/or unsealing the catering and duty free trolleys.
Operationally the solution can be installed from new or retrofitted ergonomically into a trolley’s door structure utilising very low power electronics and requiring the minimum of maintenance.
Its ease of use and programmable multi-lingual display enables all levels or background and cultures to secure and seal the trolleys, increasing security both on and off the airplane.
The trolleys can be locked, sealed and status indicator checked at any point in the logistics process, all information pertaining to the security status of the trolley, the flight number, its contents, as well as an indicator showing the trolley’s internal temperature can be identified and cross checked.
Data generated by the trolley can be used to plan how and where trolleys should be maintained or adjustment shipped to meet operational requirements within an airline service company. Data also proves what goods were put on what plane and at what time within the process.
By utilising reusable electronic locking and sealing solutions the Airline Service company negates the need for plastic, metal tie or paper sealing products this in turn reduces the amount of plastic / FOD waste generated when seals are broken and ultimately lowers an organisation carbon footprint and improves safety airside.
Technological Breakthrough Offered:
Technology utilised within the Air-Seal product is based on the latest encrypted banking level algorithms. This not only provides a means of secure data transfer from trolley to the database, but also significantly reduces the ability to compromise the seal / lock status indicator. No longer will duplicate seals / access keys or other lock picking devices be able to compromise the system. If the trolley’s door has been opened by unauthorised means, this is recorded and the display status updated accordingly.
The display utilised is the very latest OLED technology within its field and uses minimal power to display clear and crisp information that can be seen in bright and low lights levels.
The use of electronic virtual seal numbers that can be applied to individual trolleys and audited within a process, is a first within the airline catering / duty free sector and offers an opportunity for those early adopter companies to set the bench mark for the rest of the industry.
Economic Benefit:
Purely from a financial perspective, within the top 42 airlines operating in and out of the European Union, losses due to theft from trolleys are substantial and could be significantly reduced as only known employees would be able to access and secure the trolleys or assets in transit, providing a full audit trail of trolley access activity. Trolleys left unattended, either on the plane or within the airport would be fully secured and unable to be compromised without significant physical effort. Further security procedure could then be developed. Stock losses would reduce.
Trolley tracking helps operational streamlining, minimises wastages of moving empty trolleys and improves the processing and replenishment of trolleys. From a security point of view, better systems offer earlier opportunities to identify potential weaknesses and prevent unauthorised shipments of goods, persons and or assets.
Summary:
The Air-Seal product redefines the level of sealing and locking for catering and duty free trolleys used by airline service companies and airlines, raising security, reducing operational losses and offering real time data relating to each trolleys operational status. By utilising reusable electronic sealing and locking controlled by known and trusted individuals within the logistics process, the trolley’s security status is significantly raised. Non authorised personnel will not be able to surreptitiously gain access to the trolley’s contents without causing suspicion or voiding the trolley’s defined security status.
Implementing the solution will reduce stock losses through theft or wastage and maximise profits for those concerned. It will offer the security personnel of organisations unparalleled levels of data and trolley visibility that will in turn maximise upon current preventative processes. Environmental improvements are envisaged with a significant reduction in the use of plastic tie seals, which will become obsolete in this process.
Potential Impact:
The Air-Seal concept provides an electronic security audit trail, unlike any existing security device. The system will be used during the storage and transport of a trolley outside of a secure area and will contain technology for asset management. Airport security and airline personnel will be authorised to access and seal the trolley, whilst informing them of the security level of the individual or company responsible for sealing the container prior to dispatch. Through the research and development of the Air-Seal systems, we will be able to provide our customers with a functional and reliable technology, with the following unique selling points.
* Secure transportation seal to identify individual responsible for container access/sealing
* Electronic audit trail of sealing numbers to reduce manual workload
* Retrofit and low cost security seal for trolleys, during transportation outside of secure areas
* Location and maintenance information of all trolleys and containers
* International control and access system with an electronic audit trail and unlimited access
* Clear / manual indication of a containers integrity
* Automatic electronic indication system to monitor container integrity
* Reduce the possibility of a large security issues with aircraft trolleys resulting in a large infrastructure event
The original proposal identified current airline trolleys as a security risk around which the original proposal was drafted. However it has become apparent that multiple opportunities exist for the technology developed in the Air-Seal project.
The main alternative market opportunities for this technology are listed below:
1. Medical/Hospital supply chain for secure transportation of blood, organs, vaccines etc.
2. Transportation of goods by air
3. Transportation of goods by sea
Tha main dissemination acitivies have been through the Aircraft Interiors Show 2011, which raised awareness of the system with a number of potential users expressing an interest. The show also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the device providing extremely useful feedback which has been used to revise the design.
The technical development of the Air-Seal system, show that as the product has developed and features made available, new market applications have been identified, such as:
1. Aviation Market
* Catering / Duty Free Trolley
* Hard sided URL’s utilised within Cargo logistics.
* Other Airline logistics container products.
2. Rail Market
* Catering / refreshment carts related to passenger services
3. Controlled Document
* Legal document storage.
* Document management companies.
* Prototype & pre-patent product transportation.
* High value documents.
4. Medical Applications Market
* Controlled access to drug cabinets within Hospitals.
5. Igloo / Transport Market
* Controlled temperature transportation – Organ donor containers.
* Drug transportation containers.
* Any temperature sensitive component.
6. Military Market
* Controlled document movement.
* Food and ingredient transportation.
7. IT Computer Mainframe Security
List of Websites:
http://airseal.pera.com/
Airlines are one of the most security conscious areas of industry. Every year billions of Euros are spent on aviation security and thousands of man-hours are taken up with carrying out extensive security checks. These are designed to combat the techniques now being adopted by modern terrorist groups, which are intended to cause personal fear and economic disruption. Airport security systems are however effective and have been successful in deterring in-flight terrorist attacks.
One area where this is a particular concern is in the security control and movement tracking of aircraft galley trolleys and canisters. Existing security measures have been effective at preventing terrorism mainly due to the closed supply chains. However, since the September 11th terrorism attacks in the United States catering services throughout the world have been seen as the weakest link in the aviation industry’s supply chain.
The Air-Seal consortium identified a gap in the market for a retrofit and new integrated technology that can provide a complete traceability and security service for trolleys, in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
The Air-Seal system is a second generation of security seal and locking solution, capable of electronically monitoring the integrity of an aircraft catering and duty-free trolley. Immune to compromise, duplication or tamper its use is not limited to such containers with wider applications in the airline cargo logistics sector being envisaged in the medium term and other security conscious sectors over the longer term.
Current sealing and locking technologies are time consuming to administer correctly, are prone to inconsistencies due to human involvement and can be overcome without being easily identified. In addition no single solution is available that provides both a locking and sealing as one single entity or has the ease of operation or audit to prove that a container’s integrity has been maintained from point of loading to the point of it being onboard the airplane.
Project Context and Objectives:
Air-Seal is a two-year project, funded via the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme within the 'Research for the benefit of SMEs' scheme. This summary highlights the projects background and objectives for the second reporting period and consortium participants.
High Level Scope
Air-Seal is an innovative Security Seal for the Aerospace industry. The Air-Seal system will be used during the storage and transport of inflight service trollies whilst outside secure areas and will only allow access to airport security and airline personnel with the appropriate electronic security device.
This retrofitted electronic security system monitors the sealing and opening of food and duty free trolleys. Access is controlled and recorded centrally and can be set to be location dependent. Any tampering with the trolley will be detected.
The key characteristics of the project are:
* Record all actions on the lock and location of the lock
* Provide secure access via a centrally controlled user id
* Display the current security status on the lock itself
* Detect and record any opening of the trolley
* Offer asset tracking
Project Results:
Operator Benefits:
The Air-Seal product gives operators an improved security lock and seal for the assets in transit, reducing asset losses across their supply chain by removing the potential for goods to be removed or added outside known locations to otherwise secure containers.
It provides a secure sealing system controlling which individuals are responsible for sealing and/or unsealing the catering and duty free trolleys.
Operationally the solution can be installed from new or retrofitted ergonomically into a trolley’s door structure utilising very low power electronics and requiring the minimum of maintenance.
Its ease of use and programmable multi-lingual display enables all levels or background and cultures to secure and seal the trolleys, increasing security both on and off the airplane.
The trolleys can be locked, sealed and status indicator checked at any point in the logistics process, all information pertaining to the security status of the trolley, the flight number, its contents, as well as an indicator showing the trolley’s internal temperature can be identified and cross checked.
Data generated by the trolley can be used to plan how and where trolleys should be maintained or adjustment shipped to meet operational requirements within an airline service company. Data also proves what goods were put on what plane and at what time within the process.
By utilising reusable electronic locking and sealing solutions the Airline Service company negates the need for plastic, metal tie or paper sealing products this in turn reduces the amount of plastic / FOD waste generated when seals are broken and ultimately lowers an organisation carbon footprint and improves safety airside.
Technological Breakthrough Offered:
Technology utilised within the Air-Seal product is based on the latest encrypted banking level algorithms. This not only provides a means of secure data transfer from trolley to the database, but also significantly reduces the ability to compromise the seal / lock status indicator. No longer will duplicate seals / access keys or other lock picking devices be able to compromise the system. If the trolley’s door has been opened by unauthorised means, this is recorded and the display status updated accordingly.
The display utilised is the very latest OLED technology within its field and uses minimal power to display clear and crisp information that can be seen in bright and low lights levels.
The use of electronic virtual seal numbers that can be applied to individual trolleys and audited within a process, is a first within the airline catering / duty free sector and offers an opportunity for those early adopter companies to set the bench mark for the rest of the industry.
Economic Benefit:
Purely from a financial perspective, within the top 42 airlines operating in and out of the European Union, losses due to theft from trolleys are substantial and could be significantly reduced as only known employees would be able to access and secure the trolleys or assets in transit, providing a full audit trail of trolley access activity. Trolleys left unattended, either on the plane or within the airport would be fully secured and unable to be compromised without significant physical effort. Further security procedure could then be developed. Stock losses would reduce.
Trolley tracking helps operational streamlining, minimises wastages of moving empty trolleys and improves the processing and replenishment of trolleys. From a security point of view, better systems offer earlier opportunities to identify potential weaknesses and prevent unauthorised shipments of goods, persons and or assets.
Summary:
The Air-Seal product redefines the level of sealing and locking for catering and duty free trolleys used by airline service companies and airlines, raising security, reducing operational losses and offering real time data relating to each trolleys operational status. By utilising reusable electronic sealing and locking controlled by known and trusted individuals within the logistics process, the trolley’s security status is significantly raised. Non authorised personnel will not be able to surreptitiously gain access to the trolley’s contents without causing suspicion or voiding the trolley’s defined security status.
Implementing the solution will reduce stock losses through theft or wastage and maximise profits for those concerned. It will offer the security personnel of organisations unparalleled levels of data and trolley visibility that will in turn maximise upon current preventative processes. Environmental improvements are envisaged with a significant reduction in the use of plastic tie seals, which will become obsolete in this process.
Potential Impact:
The Air-Seal concept provides an electronic security audit trail, unlike any existing security device. The system will be used during the storage and transport of a trolley outside of a secure area and will contain technology for asset management. Airport security and airline personnel will be authorised to access and seal the trolley, whilst informing them of the security level of the individual or company responsible for sealing the container prior to dispatch. Through the research and development of the Air-Seal systems, we will be able to provide our customers with a functional and reliable technology, with the following unique selling points.
* Secure transportation seal to identify individual responsible for container access/sealing
* Electronic audit trail of sealing numbers to reduce manual workload
* Retrofit and low cost security seal for trolleys, during transportation outside of secure areas
* Location and maintenance information of all trolleys and containers
* International control and access system with an electronic audit trail and unlimited access
* Clear / manual indication of a containers integrity
* Automatic electronic indication system to monitor container integrity
* Reduce the possibility of a large security issues with aircraft trolleys resulting in a large infrastructure event
The original proposal identified current airline trolleys as a security risk around which the original proposal was drafted. However it has become apparent that multiple opportunities exist for the technology developed in the Air-Seal project.
The main alternative market opportunities for this technology are listed below:
1. Medical/Hospital supply chain for secure transportation of blood, organs, vaccines etc.
2. Transportation of goods by air
3. Transportation of goods by sea
Tha main dissemination acitivies have been through the Aircraft Interiors Show 2011, which raised awareness of the system with a number of potential users expressing an interest. The show also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the device providing extremely useful feedback which has been used to revise the design.
The technical development of the Air-Seal system, show that as the product has developed and features made available, new market applications have been identified, such as:
1. Aviation Market
* Catering / Duty Free Trolley
* Hard sided URL’s utilised within Cargo logistics.
* Other Airline logistics container products.
2. Rail Market
* Catering / refreshment carts related to passenger services
3. Controlled Document
* Legal document storage.
* Document management companies.
* Prototype & pre-patent product transportation.
* High value documents.
4. Medical Applications Market
* Controlled access to drug cabinets within Hospitals.
5. Igloo / Transport Market
* Controlled temperature transportation – Organ donor containers.
* Drug transportation containers.
* Any temperature sensitive component.
6. Military Market
* Controlled document movement.
* Food and ingredient transportation.
7. IT Computer Mainframe Security
List of Websites:
http://airseal.pera.com/