XYBR NEWS
Airport Security Adopts Wearable Computers Checkpoints will use lightweight wearable computers to track, apprehend suspects via face recognition.
Ramon G. McLeod, PCWorld.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
LAS VEGAS -- Early next year security personnel in major U.S. airports
will be equipped with wearable computers, introduced at Comdex here this week,
so they can instantly identify suspicious travelers based on face recognition
technology.
The manufacturer of the devices declined to identify which airports will
receive the gear first, but say the equipment is being deployed within three
months.
The device--called a Mobile Assistant 5--will allow security personnel
on the terminal floor to positively identify a suspect, say representatives of Xybernaut,
the developer. The Mobile Assistant 5 provides the security person with key
information, including a photo, that can be used during questioning.
A major problem with face recognition technology is getting information
quickly to the people who have to detain and question suspects, says M. Dewayne Adams, senior vice president and chief strategy officer.
"Face recognition requires lots of large cameras running through very powerful servers," he says. "The trouble is, when you get a match, you need to
be able to get all that information to the person on the floor immediately."
"With this device, the guard gets the data wirelessly while he is on patrol, he can then see who the person is, walk up and verify the person's
information," Adams said.
Powerful, Portable
The device consists of two parts: a two-pound computer, worn on a belt,
and an 8.4-inch ruggedized LCD screen. The computer runs on a 500 MHz Intel
Celeron processor, has 256MB of memory, and has a 5GB hard drive. The LCD
weighs less than a pound and has 800-by-600-color SVGA resolution. The product
sells for about $4000.
"The goal is to get 'local verification' so that the people in the
terminal get the information they need rapidly," Adams says. "Typically, they
would get a photo, some personal stats like height, weight, and so on, and
details about the true identification of the person."
The company, founded in 1990, has produced similar devices, albeit for
very different reasons, for British Airways. Airline employees use the wearable
computers to check in passengers while they wait in long lines at London's
Heathrow Airport. The company also works with utility companies and other
industrial concerns whose employees have to work in places where an ordinary
laptop is too cumbersome. In many cases, the company mates the computer with a
futuristic-looking head-mounted LCD display that allows for hands-free
operation.
The company is also working with the U.S. Department of Defense on a
number of highly classified projects.
A consumer version of the firm's wearable computers, called the Poma, is
to be released early next year. The product, which is paired with a one-inch
head-mounted LCD display, is designed for game play, Web surfing, e-mail, and
similar applications.
The Poma, which will cost about $1500 at launch, runs on Windows CE. It
has a 128 MHz RISC processor, 32MB of RAM, 32MB of ROM, a Compact Flash slot,
and a USB port. The computer weighs about 11 ounces. The head mount weighs
under three ounces. |
