By Gemma Simpson, 17 May 2007 15:21
NEWS
Iris recognition-based biometric technology has been rolled out at Gatwick Airport's South Terminal.
The Iris Recognition Immigration System (Iris) lets registered passengers enter the UK without queuing to see an immigration officer at passport control.
Air travellers enrolled on the scheme can walk up to an automated barrier, look into a camera and, if the system recognises them, enter the UK.
The biometric technology works by photographing and storing a passenger's iris patterns in a database, along with their passport details and immigration status in the UK.
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A one-off enrolment to the Iris system is free and takes about five minutes. Click here for photos of the Iris system in action.
The installation of Iris at Gatwick South completes the rollout of this biometric tech to nine key UK airports including Birmingham and Manchester airports.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Recently the IRIS scanner has failed on two occassions to recognise me and the queues for IRIS have been so long colleagues have been quicker going through Passport control than I have been going through the Scanner so I am not sure of its value.
2. anonymous
Ha!
I have been using the system at Heathrow and the only time that the queue for the Iris machine is small is when the queue for the normal entry is also small. There is only one Iris system and it's throughput is around 20% of an Immigration Officer. It only takes one pesron not to understand how to use the machine to create a logjam. There needs to be more Iris scanning systems and the throughput needs to increase before these systems will become useful.
3. anonymous
But it is a rare day when it is working in Heathrow T1
4. anonymous
I've been signed up for a year now and have used it three times (out of probably 20 airport transits). Either it's not installed (eg only in one terminal at Birmingham) or not working. When I came through Heathrow last week it took longer for the four people in the Iris queue to get through than the 100 plus in the EU passports line. Not very good so far.
5. boney clair
If Iris scanning is so hot why did the gov kick the idea into touch for the ID card scheme
6. Hugh Bracey
I have used the Iris recognition system at Heathrow T3 about 6 times a year and it was only on my last time that it failed on me .I was immediately taken to the front of an immigration queue by the official monitoring the machines.
I wish this system was installed at Stansted and am pleased to see it is now at Gatwick.