Although face recognition systems have received most of the attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bostons Logan International Airport is trying out a different type of verification system to detect passengers and workers who arent what they seem to be.
Logan has begun implementing a trial of Imaging Automations BorderGuard in selected areas of the airport. BorderGuard can work in conjunction with face recognition systems such as those from Visionics, but its main job is to verify the validity of documents.
BorderGuard consists of an appliance that combines scanning capabilities with a PC architecture. Its back-end systems receive information from the scanning appliance.
The appliance scans all elements of a document and compares visible data, such as name and birth date, with any machine- encoded information on the document.
BorderGuard can be used for standard security verification, and the data from it can be used to generate automated electronic manifests and speed clearance upon landing. Most scans take less than 4 seconds, Imaging Automation officials said.
For more information, go to www.imagingauto.com.