Dallas Fort Worth International Airport will become a testing ground for innovative technologies including biometric authentication systems, thanks to a new Transportation Security Administration designation: The TSA has named the airport an official Innovation Task Force (ITF) site.
The TSA ITF’s goal is to improve security, efficiency, and the customer experience at airports, and that to that end it works with partners in the transportation sector to develop innovative technological solutions. Among those solutions are CT scanning, biometric authentication, and automated passenger screening systems.
In a statement announcing the Dallas Fort Worth designation, the TSA did not go into detail about what kinds of technologies will be trialled at the airport, but it appears likely that biometrics will play a big role. Biometric identification is a central component of the TSA’s expanding PreCheck expedited airport screening program, and meanwhile the Customs and Border Protection Agency is intensifying its own biometric passenger processing initiatives across the country.
Dallas Fort Worth has been a testing ground for such innovative technologies before, with the FBI having used the airport to develop a proof of concept for its biometric Next Generation Identification program in 2015. Commenting on the ITF site designation, Dallas Fort Worth EVP of Operations Chad Makovsky said “we’ve welcomed the TSA into our Airport Operations Center where we collaborate on new ideas and respond quickly to our customers’ needs.”
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February 2, 2018 – by Alex Perala
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