GMR Hyderabad International Airport to launch facial recognition system

Shamshabad: The trial runs for the Face Recognition (FR) system, a technology enabled, passenger-friendly initiative at GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), have been successful, so far, with the excellent performance of the system in accurately reading faces and verifying data of the individuals above and beyond.

Face Recognition is a biometric verification process that maps an individual's facial features mathematically and stores the data as a face print. The process uses deep learning algorithms to compare a live capture or digital image to the stored face print in order to verify an individual's identity.

Considered as one of the most sophisticated passenger-friendly initiative in the country, The Face Recognition facility is coming into existence under 'DigiYatra,' a signature program of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.

The system will be fully operational by the end of this year in phased manner. After the successful trials in face reading, the trial team jumped on the bandwagon and embarked on other throughputs.

According to official sources, upon completion of the project, this facility will provide a 'plug and play' service to all the passengers boarding the flights from Shamshabad to embark on various destinies within the country.

Hyderabad International Airport is the first in country to initiate the trials for Face Recognition technology and the trails have now gained momentum, and are now close to real-time engagements.

At present, Shamshabad Airport is working on trial runs with the airport community to ward off any technical shortcomings before formally introducing one of the most fascinating travel facilities of Face Recognition (FR) at the airport, which is considered as a state of the art facility in terms of providing passenger-friendly, technology enabled initiatives in the entire country.

GHIAL launched end-to-end 'e-boarding facility' two years ago, ushering a whole new paperless and seamless passenger experience. The Face Recognition is an extension toward enhancing that passenger experience.

The proposed 'Face Recognition' is a simple one-time enrolment process enabling passengers' continuous and non-intrusive passage across all the touch points for all future departures from Hyderabad International Airport.

The passenger has to enrol for a one-time registration at any of the FR-enabled airports in India and get a DigiYatra ID. The data thus generated would then be stored in a central cell, which is operated jointly by Airports Authority of India and other airports partnering together on the DigiYatra initiative. When passengers book ticket, they have to provide DigiYatra ID, which is linked to the PNR details.

At the terminal entry, the registered passenger has to pass through FR-enabled e-Gate, where installed-cameras automatically verify the face and PNR giving the passengers access to entering airport. CISF personnel deployed at the airport will monitor the passenger movement in a non-intrusive manner at the entrance gates and at other touch points (Security, Boarding Gate), kiosks/e-gates etc.

Face Recognition devices are positioned to identify the passenger's face and display the flight details to CISF (the government agency providing security cover at airports)/Airlines and all this happens with no human involvement.

However, this will not do away with the mandatory frisking by security authorities at the Security Screening Zone, the sources added. According to sources, the technology is currently for outgoing passengers and in future will be extended to inbound as well.

The key dependency would be on other Indian airports implementing the technology. "As the fore-runners in India, we are also trying to introduce the technology in other airfields, if all works in our favour and the trials completed with a succeeding rate, the Hyderabad International Airport will be the first to 'Go Live' soon with passengers," informed the sources. With the introduction of this feature, passengers can certainly expect an improvement both in terms of throughput as well as convenience.