AOptix Technologies has received an order to supply at least 80 of its stand-off iris recognition systems to be used at Doha International Airport in Qatar to help with watch list checks of people entering the country, marking the largest and first national level deployment for the small company of its biometrics technology.
The eventual goal under the project is to deploy the iris recognition technology at every point of entry in the country, land, sea and air, at every immigration counter, Joseph Pritikin, director of Product Marketing, Biometrics, at AOptix, says on a recent teleconference with media and analysts. While the initial deployment is at the airport, he says the company has already done pilot testing at the country’s land border with Saudi Arabia and at the airport to examine throughput, failure to acquire, matching and other capabilities and challenges.
“It was so successful that they decided to deploy the system nationwide,” Pritikin says.
Pritikin says that while Qatar is small, it has a rapidly growing aviation infrastructure and wants to become a transportation hub. Most of the immigration counters are at the current Doha airport and there will be more at the new Doha airport when it opens next year, he says.
Travelers entering Qatar typically pass through an automated e-gate and have their fingerprints checked against either a passport, or as in the case of Qatari citizens, a national identification card. However, others entering the country will go to an immigration counter to present their passport and in addition have their irises captured by the company’s InSight VM iris system for a real-time check against a national watch list.
In addition to keeping criminals, known and suspected terrorists out of the country, Qatar will also be using the iris recognition system to monitor whether their large populations of expatriates that have been expelled from the country for breaking the law do not return, Pritikin says.
As for scale, Pritikin says there are 10 facilities where InSight VM systems would be deployed including one at the land border, one at the airport for now, and then the rest sea ports. He expects further build out of the biometrics system when the new airport in Doha opens next year.
The InSight VM iris recognition system captures the iris images of people from a two-meter stand-off distance. The system will be integrated with existing immigration and pass control counters this summer.
The InSight VM technology is a cooperative system, meaning travelers must look at it briefly for their iris images to be captured to be checked against a watch list for a decision whether or not a person will be allowed to enter Qatar.
Pritikin says that eventually AOptix hopes to have its system integrated with the e-gate entrance mode at the Doha airport. The company has created a version of the system in slim package where multiple InSight VMs stand comfortably beside each e-gate with a minimal footprint and no obstruction to travelers.
Moving travelers through e-gates is akin to having a “trusted traveler” program where people have already been vetted and their identity is being verified so that they can pass through immigration without necessarily having to talk with an agent, Pritikin says.
For the Qatar project AOptix is teamed with systems integrator Integralis AG, which is based in Germany and is a subsidiary of Japan’s NTT Group. Integralis is doing the backend systems integration.
Pritikin notes that AOptix supplies standards-compliant technology that can be used by integrators with any algorithms for biometric matching.
California-based AOptix believes the most promising deployment opportunities for its iris recognition technology are at airports and borders, particularly for automating immigration processes. In the U.S., the Departments of Homeland Security and State are each closely examining iris recognition technology for programs such as US VISIT and visa applications and issuance, Pritikin says.
Pritikin believes there are significant opportunities for iris recognition technology in the U.S. within the next three years. Various departments and agencies in the U.S. have been examining iris technology for several years or more, with interest coming from “so many different parts of the U.S. government” such as FBI, DoD, DHS and State around next- generation identification and authentication, he says.