01 January 2010
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"This report describes two automated border crossing systems – RAPID in Portugal and SmartGate in Australia- based on the use of electronic passports and facial image. The two are pioneer systems operational in international airports in Portugal and Australia. In both cases electronic passports are used as the biometric data storage medium and facial recognition is the base for biometric matching.
These two key factors – electronic passports and facial recognition – differentiate RAPID and SmartGate from the other four automated biometric border crossing systems previously studied in the first BIOPASS study1. The two systems do not require prior registration of the traveller and are interoperable. They rely on the data stored in the passport and have no control over the original registration of biometric data. Face recognition in combination with electronic passports ensures secure checking of travel documents and biometric verification of the identity of the traveller. It can perform as accurately as (or better than) human experts.
The studied systems demonstrate feasibility and compliance with technical and hardware requirements, and are fully accepted by travellers. Despite some limitations, both systems work well and enable the traveller holding an ICAO compliant electronic passport to cross the border in a convenient way."
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