Various self-service technologies look good in general for applying to tracking the departure of foreign nationals from the country through U.S. airports but a key challenge is making these technologies intuitive and easy-to-use so that the exit processes aren’t a source of delay and that there isn’t a major impact on Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer staffing, an official with the Science and Technology branch at the Department of Homeland Security tells HSR.
The ongoing testing of various technologies, processes and operational concepts at a test facility in Maryland is part of an effort by DHS to find ways to increase security and improve the entry and exit processes for travelers arriving to and departing from U.S. airports to meet congressional mandates. The testing is part of the Apex Air Entry/Exit Re-Engineering (AEER) program, which is a partnership between S&T and CBP.
An important component to the AEER program is the testing of biometric technologies to enhance the likelihood that foreign nationals that entered the country legally have departed the country per their visa requirements.
“What we’re finding is it’s not biometric technology that is the most challenging piece, it’s the overall usability and intuitive nature of the technologies when they’re integrated and how well travelers can use them,” says Arun Vemery, director of the Apex AEER effort within S&T. The automated systems that DHS is examining include automated passport controls, mobile passport controls, kiosk-based systems, and eGate-based systems, he says.
“The constraint isn’t so much how do we make biometric technology work in an airport, it’s how do we establish a new government process within an airport without disrupting air travel,” Vemery says.
The challenges to self-service technologies that could be used as part of an integrated biometric exit solution at airports extend beyond the ease of use of these systems. Vemery says that not only are airports different from each other, even multiple terminals within an airport are frequently different, which might mean exit solutions within an airport
“The business operations of that facility may be so different that it’s not going to be a one size fits all solution,” he says.
Moreover, unlike airports in many countries that may have an area for exit immigration controls, that’s not the case in U.S. airports where establishing a biometric-based exit immigration check would entail creating a “new government process where historically there hasn’t been one,” Vemery says.
Adding eGates, for example in a terminal, could mean the loss of gate areas, retail space or seating, Vemery says.
Another concern is ensuring that wherever an exit solution is established in an airport a foreign traveler that is supposed to be leaving the country doesn’t pass through the exit check and then turn around and leave the airport, he says.
S&T is currently conducting tests of different processes, technologies and operational concepts for the AEER effort at a test facility in Maryland that it opened last summer. Later this year it plans to set up a pilot project in an airport to begin field testing a concept of operations that looks at staffing, process and technology. The pilot testing won’t begin until 2016 to avoid potential disruptions of holiday traffic.
Understanding the staffing levels that might be required with different solutions is critical because “officer time is probably the most expensive component of a biometric exit solution,” Vemery says. He isn’t ready to discuss the specifics of the pilot but says the project will be “looking to see how we can take advantage of self-service technologies as much as possible.”
A challenge around the self-boarding concept is limited real estate in the boarding area and “boarding is probably the most time sensitive operation within the airport,” Vemery says. Minimizing the requirement for CBP officers will also be important, he says.
This year CBP is also doing several pilot tests of biometric-enabled processes and technologies as part of its Entry/Exit Transformation strategy. One three month pilot that is underway currently at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, the 1:1 Face ePassport Air Entry Experiment that uses facial recognition systems at the CBP booth to verify a U.S. citizen against his or her ePassport upon entry into the country.
News of the facial recognition test was disclosed by the blog Motherboard, which obtained a slide presentation by S&T and CBP about the AEER and Entry/Exit Transformation efforts.
Another experiment, which CBP calls Biometric Exit Mobile, will allow CBP inspection teams equipped with handheld devices to check the biometrics of foreign travelers as they are departing the country at an airport and thereby create an exit record. The field experiment will be done at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
The BE Mobile test will provide input on the cost benefit analysis of a comprehensive biometric exit solution, according to one of the slides obtained by Motherboard.
The final test CBP plans this year involves collection of biometric and biographic data of inbound and outbound non-exempt, non-U.S. citizens at the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego. According to the briefing slides, the pedestrian experiment will test facial and iris image capture in an outdoor land environment.
CBP officials have previously discussed the BE Mobile and pedestrian experiments with HSR. The agency declined to provide an update on their efforts at this time.