Unisys Helps CBP Expand Airport Biometric Screening Program

Unisys is once again helping the US Customs and Border Protection agency to implement biometric passenger screening at a major US airport.

It’s an expansion of the pilot project first implemented at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia, which concluded in the middle of last year. Now, initiating what could be a much larger-scale expansion of the biometric screening program, the CBP and Unisys are bringing their system to the John F. Kennedy airport in New York.

Unisys will again provide the facial recognition technology used to match travelers’ faces to the biometric data on their ePassports. Commenting in a statement, Unisys Federal group VP Amy Rall referred to the success of last year’s tests at Dulles, asserting that the project “proved the ability of the system to efficiently and accurately perform one-to-one facial image comparisons.”

Rall added that the program “can help make the country safer without disrupting travel”, and indeed, it could go further than that: Many airports around the world are starting to implement biometric passenger screening for the benefits it offers in both security and efficiency, since it can be used to dramatically cut traveler processing times. For now, though, the CBP’s mandate is security, and so far the system appears to be proving effective.

—

January 25, 2016 – by Alex Perala