By Steve Ranger, 15 February 2006 14:30
NEWS
The rollout of an iris scan-based security system for air passengers has been pushed back by the government.
Project Iris (Iris Recognition Immigration System) uses iris-scanning technology to identify frequent travellers and speed up their journey through immigration.
The voluntary scheme is aimed at permanent residents, work permit holders, long-term students and frequent business travellers.
Eligible travellers have their iris patterns photographed. These images are then linked to their passport data, their immigration status in the UK and a photograph, and stored securely in a UK Immigration Service database.
After this, passengers are able to use the automated barriers to enter the UK by looking into an iris recognition camera. An electronic record is kept for every arrival via the Iris automated barrier.
The system was rolled out at Heathrow Terminals 2 and 4 last year, and according to the Home Office website, deployment to the other Heathrow terminals and to Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Stansted airports was due to follow "during the remainder of 2005".
But the Home Office now says the rollout is expected to move beyond Heathrow "during 2006", with the roll out starting at other airports next month.
The Home Office confirmed to silicon.com that the pilot had been delayed and said: "During initial confidence testing it became apparent that in some areas the system did not meet Home Office requirements."
The Home Office said these issues have now been resolved.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. David King
I've been a member of Privium (Amsterdam Schiphol's IRIS scanning service) for a couple of years. It works really well, and allows fast track service through customs / passport control. Instead of 're-inventing the wheel' why doesn't the UK government just buy the system from the Dutch?. At least it is tried and tested, and it works, which is more than most UK government sponsored projects ever do.
2. Sean Harley
I have used IRIS at LHR T4 and it is excellent, partiulary as there are always large queues for passport control and if the IRIS machine doesnt work for whatever reason - you jump straight to the top queue :-)
3. Nick White
I signed up for this about 4 weeks ago and have used it twice, on both occasions saving me from very large immigration queues. Not sure how well it will stand up to high demand, but at least gives a choice. So far this is one Govenment system that is working for me