Xiamen firm helps airport offer face-recognition check-ins

A passenger passes the security check by showing his face at the Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, northwest China's Gansu province. [Photo/ xmnn.cn]

Supported by a Xiamen-based firm, a face-recognition check-in service is now available at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, Gansu province; the first one of its kind in China, Xiamen Daily reported on March 9.

Two face snapshot cameras are installed at the security checkpoint and departure gate respectively, a worker from Xiamen Reconova Technologies explained.

A camera captures passengers' images as soon as they arrive at the security checkpoint and then passes the data to the face recognition system.

After they pass the security check and arrive at the departure gate, a camera at the gate will also snap the passenger and pass the data to the same system.

The face recognition system then compares the two pictures. If there is no difference, the passenger is allowed to pass; in other cases, an automatic alarm is triggered.

The system can access the security check and departure control systems of China TravelSky Holding Company, a leading information service provider for China's air travel and tourism industry, ensuring the accuracy of comparison results, according to Reconova Technologies.

With this system it only takes about eight seconds for each passenger to check in, greatly improving efficiency.

Different from other face-recognition technologies, the camera of Reconova's system can record passengers' facial information as long as they show their faces without looking directly into the camera.

The camera can also adjust its angle and distance for special passengers, such as those in a wheelchair.