In recent years, several airports, such as Dubai and Miami, have implemented a technology that brings a modern and safe way to access flights: biometric boarding. In Brazil, the airports of Congonhas (SP) and Santos Dumont (RJ) have also adopted the modern solution.
More than 100 thousand passengers have used the innovative solution that promises to speed up the boarding process, while enhancing the security of the procedure.
Are you familiar with this technology? Read on and find out more.
What is biometric boarding?
Biometric boarding is nothing more than the inclusion of biometric technology to validate passenger identity by checking the biometric characteristics of each individual in a validation system that will certify the identity of passengers and onboard crew.
With the technology, it is possible to add more security to the boarding procedure, making it faster than the manual verification that was previously performed.
This way, passengers can now decide to use facial biometrics when boarding. In addition to not having to present a boarding pass and identification document, the expectation is that lines and boarding time will be reduced.
How does biometric boarding work?
The operation of biometric boarding is defined in two steps:
First step: upon entering the boarding hall, the passenger's facial biometrics will be checked. This biometrics will be compared to the data present in the government base and will release the access in case of biometric match.
Second step: during access to the airplane, a new automatic verification will be made at the boarding gate.
The entire procedure is performed according to the General Law of Data Protection (LGPD), which means that passenger data are used only for boarding, ensuring that security remains strong.
To ensure that biometric boarding works properly, biometric validation systems are guided by the ICAO standard, a set of rules used to regulate facial recognition at airports, created by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), used as an international market standard.
Thus, when identifying a user through facial recognition, the system will use the following rules to ensure that verification is reliable:
- Level of blurriness: The first step of the standard checks whether the face verification photo is blurred, which would prevent recognition from taking place.
- Presence of hair in front of eyes: Next, the system looks for vertical borders in front of the eyes, a critical region for biometric recognition of an individual.
- Presence of hat: Another important step is to check for a hat in the photo, which can influence the result of facial recognition and can be identified according to the segmentation of the skin in the forehead region.
- Eyes covered by eyeglasses: Finally, the system evaluates the presence of eyeglasses and detects horizontal edges and lines in the eye region.
What are the advantages of using biometrics in aviation?
Among the main positive points for using biometric passenger boarding are:
Security: As it is an automated system that uses international standards, it is much less likely to be affected by human failure, making it a safer method for identifying people.
Agility: Since the beginning of its implementation in Brazil, the average boarding time for passengers has already dropped 27%, which means that it is a faster method, saving passengers from long waiting lines for manual document verification.
Cost: Because it is a system where each operation costs only cents and is ready to use, it is possible to implement a biometric recognition system quickly and without the need to invest large fortunes.
Is it possible to use biometric boarding technology in other projects?
In the article, we saw how biometric boarding operates in Brazilian airports and the advantages of using this technology to achieve the goal of ensuring more agility and security in the boarding process.
Although it may seem like a complex system, it is possible to implement the same technology in a project through SDKs and APIs ready for use, without the need to build an advanced biometric recognition system.
Now that you know more about biometric boarding, learn about the requirements of the ICAO standard (ISO 19794-5).
Translation: Thalita Ferreira
