[LINK] Airport to tag passengers

[Richard Chirgwin]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> <hfl>
> Note the stated reading range of these tags
> </hfl>
It's back to the active-versus-passive confusion. The Register (et al) 
is confused, and thinks the passive tag read range is the "normal" read 
range.

10m to 20m if you have a battery in the device is trivial, location less 
trivial but do-able.

RC
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/12/airport_rfid/
>
> Airport security chiefs and efficiency geeks will be able to keep 
> close tabs on airport passengers by tagging them with a high powered 
> radio chip developed at the University of Central London.
>
> The technology is to be trialled in Debrecen Airport in Hungary after 
> being in development for two-and-a-half years by University College 
> London as part of an EU-funded consortium called Optag.
> Click here to find out more!
>
> Dr Paul Brennan, of UCL's antennas and radar group, said his team had 
> developed a radio frequency identification tag far in advance of any 
> that had been used to now to label supermarket produce.
>
> People will be told to wear radio tags round their necks when they get 
> to the airport. The tag would notify a computer system of their 
> identity and whereabouts. The system would then track their activities 
> in the airport using a network of high definition cameras.
>
> "[The tags] have got a long range, of 10m to 20m," said Brennan, "and 
> the system has been designed so the tag can be located to within a 
> metre, and it can locate thousands of tags in one area at a given time."
>
> RFID tags can normally only transmit their presence to readers a few 
> centimetres away, while their location is difficult to grasp.
>
> The project, called "Improving airport efficiency, security and 
> passenger flow by enhanced passenger monitoring," is using €2m of 
> European funding so airports can herd people through the airport system.
>
> Colin Brooks, Optag co-ordinator, said the trial would determine if 
> the tags would be feasible in the light of obvious problems, such as 
> the possibility that people might ditch their tags to avoid detection, 
> or swap them with another person.
>
> One solution might be to require people to use their tags to get 
> through gates placed throughout the airport, he said. Perhaps a little 
> like a shepherd might gate off his pasture and check the tags on his 
> sheep as they passed into this field. ®
>
>