Facial Recognition Implemented at Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) is the first to implement facial recognition for security check in China. It is now being tested at Terminal 2 of the airport. The new security screening system will significantly reduce the amount of time for passengers to go through security checks.

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According to reporters, BCIA is the first to launch the “Smart Security Screening System” in China after two years of research and development.

Recently, reporters saw that the new smart security screening system is already in place at certain checkpoints. Airport staff were instructing travellers on how to use the screening machines at No. 2 security checkpoint on the domestic departure level of Terminal 2.

Security identification and processing in under a minute

For the identity verification step, reporter saw that passengers had to go through two set of gates where previous manual checkpoints have been replaced by machine ones. The first gate verifies the passenger’s boarding pass and ID card, the second takes photos of the traveler’s face for identity verification. According to an airpot staff, “Since the facial recognition system is not yet connected to the entire terminal, on top the fact that Terminal 2 also requires a stamp verification, a staff is still assigned to each smart identity verification post to conduct the subsequent stamp verification.”

During the security screening of carry-on luggages, reporter saw that the extended zone of the luggage carousel has two rows of cameras installed. During the security check, passengers only need to put their luggages in the basket, look at the camera, and then push the luggage basket onto the conveyor belt. The system will conduct security identification and processing within one minute, binding passenger information with their luggage information.

Once a suspicious luggage is spotted, the screen in front of the staff will directly display the traveler’s name and a photo of the suspicious luggage. With the help of the system, the staff no longer needs to yell to find the owner of the suspicious luggage in crowded and chaotic situations. Instead, they can directly call out the name of the luggage owner and ask them to open up their luggage.

Self-service ID card and facial recognition

According to airport staff, efficiency has improved after the smart security screening system was installed. This will undoubtedly ease the pressure brought on by passenger flow at BCIA’s security checkpoints, where they receive more than 20,000 passengers per hour during peak hours.

According to Li Xuezhi, section chief of the technical department at Beijing Capital Airport Aviation Security Company, the smart passenger security screening system mainly consists of four subsystems of automatic transmission, information, facial recognition and self-service verification.

In particular, the self-service verification subsystem was designed and developed uniquely for the gate facility and softwares. It helps passengers with the verification process and completes the entire automated passenger self-service verification system.