Denver Post

A quest for safer skies 
Security technology holds promise, carries high price 

By Andy Vuong/Denver Post Business Writer
Monday, September 24, 2001

Monday, September 24, 2001 - The spotlight is on aviation security in the wake of the terrorist attacks, with much of the focus on technologies that can stop hijackers before they strike. A handful of Colorado companies develop such technologies. These range from advanced surveillance systems that can alert officials when an object is removed from a room to identification systems that can quickly display a person's physical characteristics based on information encoded on a driver's license barcode. And though it would be difficult to deploy, there are also systems that can prevent hijackers from crashing planes into buildings. 

While the Federal Aviation Administration won't publicly discuss its plans for making air travel safer, it isn't discounting any technology. "It's safe to say that pretty much anything is on the table," said FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer.  Security experts say biometric systems - which can identify travelers by their voices, facial characteristics, fingerprints, and retina and iris patterns - will receive much of the attention. 

These systems are already installed at a handful of airports around the world, said Raj Nanavati, an analyst with New York-based market research firm and consultancy International Biometric Group. Nanavati said Chicago's O'Hare International Airport uses fingerprint-scanning devices on its employees.

Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina uses similar devices that scan its employees' iris patterns. And Keflavik International Airport in Iceland uses facial-recognition systems throughout its airport. 

"Biometrics isn't going to prevent someone from bringing a gun on board, but it can assure that the right person is boarding the plane," Nanavati said. "It will definitely improve security." 

It can also keep people who are on the FBI's watch list and other wanted lists from getting on a plane. Facial-recognition systems can be linked to outside databases, which allow them to compare a traveler's "faceprint" with those of people who are wanted by the FBI and other agencies. A faceprint is a digital code based on dozens of facial characteristics, such as the distance between the eyes and the bridge of the nose. Durango-based Loronix, which makes high-tech surveillance systems, will soon be able to offer such technology to its 1,600 customers. The company's systems are used in 10 major U.S. airports, including suburban Washington's Dulles International Airport - the airport where American Airlines Flight 77 took off from before it crashed into the Pentagon. 

Loronix is teaming with Jersey City, N.J.-based Visionics, which develops facial-recognition technology. The company has spent a year incorporating Visionics software into its systems and should be able to offer a combined product within three months, said David Tynan, vice president of marketing and sales for Loronix. Tynan said more customers have inquired into adding such services since the attacks. "There's very high interest," he said. "The users we're hearing from are looking at adding additional intelligence to their surveillance systems." 

The biometric industry is expected to grow from $523 million this year to $1.9 billion in 2005, according to a study released three weeks ago by International Biometric Group. 

Though facial-recognition systems raise some privacy concerns, Tynan said they are worth implementing because they can help catch terrorists. Some Colorado lawmakers who planned to sponsor legislation restricting its use have said that they are giving the technology a second look in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. But the cost of implementing biometric security systems at airports could range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Even without facial-recognition technology, Loronix's surveillance system has a number of other features that could significantly improve security at airports, Tynan said. The company's system is much more advanced than older analog surveillance systems, which typically connect cameras to closed-circuit television monitors. The Loronix system connects cameras to computers through the Internet or a local intranet. This allows security officials to run software with the system and program it to search for specific behaviors. The system can alert officials when someone is running or when a door is opened, for example. It can also monitor a room and set off an alarm if something is removed. And if cameras are placed at airport check-in counters, security officials can program the system to record a passenger's seat number with a video capture of the passenger. The Loronix system costs about twice as much as analog systems. 

Other Colorado companies offer additional security options. 

View Systems, which has dual headquarters in Arapahoe County and Baltimore, has developed facial recognition technology similar to that from Visionics. Longmont-based The Logix Cos. last week released an identification verification system that displays encoded information about an individual's physical characteristics based on information stored on a driver's license magnetic strip. It is ideal for airport ticket counters, bus and train stations, and rental car companies that need to quickly verify a person's identity. The U.S. Secret Service has purchased the system, the company said. The financial crime division of the Secret Service will use the system to authenticate information encoded on magnetic strips of credit cards and match it to the encoded driver's license data. 

Arapahoe County-based T-Netix develops voice verification technology. The technology could be used to prevent people from using stolen identification to purchase airline tickets and other goods through the phone, said Nanavati of Biometric Group. And then there's the option of linking aircraft autopilots to terrain warning systems that recognize buildings and landmarks. Though this would take years to implement and raises concerns about taking controls from the pilot, it would prevent anyone flying the aircraft from crashing into a building. 

"It is technically possible," said Ron Crotty, a spokesman for Morristown, N.J.-based Honeywell International, which makes the terrain systems. "But taking controls from the pilot is an enormous issue. In doing so, you might deprive a pilot of the only way he has of saving a plane and its passengers."