Enhancing the Perimeter
Mineta San Jose International Airport takes off with multiple layers of protection
- By Daniel Gundlach
- Apr 08, 2020
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose
International Airport (SJC) is
the gateway to Silicon Valley,
providing transportation to 15
million passengers annually. SJC is recognized
within the industry as one of America’s
fastest?growing major airports over the
last four-year period, based on percentage
increase in passenger seat capacity.
Located in San Jose, Calif., SJC is a robust
engine of economic stimulus, transportation
and international commerce. The
airport is within an 18-mile radius of 6,600
technology companies in Silicon Valley and
serves travelers employed by many of the
world’s leading Fortune 500 enterprises, including
Apple, Google, Facebook and Intel.
Ensuring secure operations is critical to
the success and customer experience of SJC
users. The airport occupies 1,050 acres of
land and its perimeter spans six miles. With
such a vast property and a high throughput
of traffic, protecting the perimeter from external
threats is essential.
Perimeter Security Upgrade
Driven by high-profile intrusion incidents,
perimeter security has become a top priority
for airports in recent years. From 2004
to 2016, there were 345 perimeter breaches
at 31 major U.S. airports, according to an
Associated Press report. Like many airports
around the country, SJC also faced challenges
and crises of illegal trespassing of
unauthorized individuals, despite the airport
meeting all federal security regulations.
This raised concerns about passenger safety.
With a heightened need for better perimeter
protection, SJC launched a multi-million
dollar, three-phase initiative to upgrade
its entire outdoor perimeter security system.
The first two phases focused on physical upgrades
to the fence line, raising 10,000 linear
feet of fence from seven feet to 11 feet in
critical areas of the airport.
Phase three was designated for fence technology
enhancements through state-of-theart
video surveillance and detection systems.
“In response to the cluster of perimeter
breaches within a relatively short time period,
our evaluation showed that the airport
perimeter, with its seven-foot-tall fence,
was indeed technically in compliance with
current federal security requirements,” said Bob Lockhart, the airport’s deputy director
of operations. “However, we also recognized
some opportunities to improve the
effectiveness of our perimeter, both from a
perception perspective, as well as an actual
strengthening of some of our perimeter.”
To find the best fence line analytic detection
technology, SJC consulted National Alliance
for Safe Skies, Inc. (Safe Skies), which
is a federally funded non-profit organization
that assists airports in the research, testing
and evaluation of security technologies.
Safe Skies
SJC’s partnership with Safe Skies began in
2014 when the non-profit first discussed the
airport’s perimeter security needs. Safe Skies
was later tasked to review a variety of perimeter defense systems to determine what
solutions would be most effective at SJC.
Safe Skies tested and evaluated six
different types of technology on-site including,
thermal cameras, thermal cameras
with video analytics, behavioral video
analytic systems, pressure sensor buried
cables, laser detection systems and wireless
cameras. Each system was tested for two
weeks, and Safe Skies presented a performance
report to SJC for each one. After a
detailed analysis, SJC selected an end-toend
perimeter intrusion detection system
(PIDS) from FLIR Systems, Inc.
The FLIR PIDS solution is composed
of 57 FLIR Elara FC-Series ID thermal
analytic cameras and 50 FLIR ioi HD Analytics
Bullet cameras along the fence line.
The system also includes four FLIR Triton
PT-Series dual sensor cameras with thermal
and visible light sensors with pan-tilt
tracking. All of this technology fully integrates
into the existing FLIR Latitude Network
Video Management System, which is
part of the FLIR United VMS family of
products. As an ONVIF Profile S compliant
platform, Latitude VMS enables seamless
integration with edge devices and third-party
systems. For the SJC deployment,
Latitude VMS integrates with the Software
House’s C-CURE access control platform.
The Thermal Advantage
Ken Castle, vice president of business development
at Ojo Technology, the systems
integrator for the project, described the advantages
of the FLIR thermal technology.
“Thermal cameras provide the data and
visual confirmations that are lacking from
so-called traditional fiber-based ‘shaker
fence’ systems, which generate alarms
when objects strike a fence or something
creates vibration,” Castle said. “The problem
is that such alerts could be caused by
dogs, wildlife, bicyclists bumping into the
fence, tree branches or winds—none of
which pose security threats.”
“With thermal cameras, the embedded
analytics can immediately distinguish between
an animal at 50 yards and a human
at 300 yards, following their direction of
movement. The viewing trajectory can be
narrowed to cover just the fence, or widened
to include territory in front of or
behind the fence. The bottom line is that
thermal analytics provide definitive visual
information and virtually eliminate unnecessary
or inconsequential alerts.”
Thermal cameras continue to be the industry
standard for 24/7 perimeter monitoring
and the technology is a key part of
SJC’s PIDS solution.
“The additional thermal and infrared
camera coverage has greatly enhanced
our abilities to detect unauthorized activities
around the perimeter of our airfield,”
Lockhart said.
Funding, Installation
and Implementation
In September 2016, the U.S. Department
of Transportation and the Federal Aviation
Administration awarded SJC an $8.1
million grant for the design, purchase and
installation of a perimeter fence technology
system. Deployment of the FLIR PIDS
solution began shortly thereafter.
The project had an initial 150-day or a
five-month turnaround with work beginning
around the holidays in December
2016. As the systems integrator, Ojo Technology
oversaw the phased commissioning
of the project. Ojo engineers pre-configured
the cameras and servers, programmed the
analytics for all thermal cameras, tested the
functionality of each camera under a variety
of lighting conditions, and worked with
the airport security command center and
its systems subcontractor to incorporate
the new cameras into the existing network.
Installation was completed in the fall
of 2017, and, afterward, Ojo worked closely with FLIR and SJC to incorporate the system for optimal functionality.
“With such an aggressive schedule, Ojo
Technology was instrumental in seeing the
PIDS solution deployment through,” said
Daniel Gundlach, vice president and general
manager of security at FLIR. “Likewise,
the collaboration, technical skill and
ingenuity among the FLIR, SJC and Ojo
teams was remarkable and a key reason
why the project is such a success.”
“The success of a technical solution like
the San Jose Airport PIDS project is dependent
upon a strong partnership among
all participants—from FLIR as the manufacturer
to the integrator to the end user,”
said Neil Roberts, FLIR security director
for the PIDS deployment. “In this case, all
parties were committed to seeing this project
through to the end and addressing any
technical needs that arose along the way.”
Solution Functionality
and Impact
The advanced FLIR PIDS solution is
designed to deliver superior threat recognition
and response. Upon detection of
an object approaching the fence line, the
FC-Series ID thermal camera, initiates an
analytic alarm hand-off to the PT-Series
camera for auto-tracking. The FLIR HD
cameras provide a color visual of the
target for identification and verification.
Through Latitude VMS, security operators
manage response capabilities such as
alarm functions, notifications and real-time
interactive alarm maps.
“SJC has used FLIR cameras and Latitude
products for many years,” Lockhart
said. “We appreciate our FLIR end-to-end
solution and the ability to expand our current
camera system with new perimeter
cameras to enhance our current video
monitoring and provide additional perimeter
intrusion detection.”
A defining feature of the airport’s
PIDS solution was that all technology
components were provided by FLIR,
which created an advantage for integration
and solution performance.
“An all-FLIR system provided a tight
integration to accomplish the goal of
heightening security for the airport,”
Castle said. “In theory, an open platform
software management system can accommodate
a variety of camera manufacturers
and models in addition to ancillary security
systems such as access control, intrusion
alarms, public address and intercom
systems, and blue light emergency phones.
“However, in actuality, the integration
of various third-party components can be
challenging as different brands of firmware
in varying camera models and manufacturers
don’t always provide consistent levels of
performance, such as resolution and other
features,” Castle said. “This can be avoided
entirely by deploying one end-to-end solution
from a single manufacturer.”
“The upfront, and early design services
that FLIR offers through sales support
engineers and through our Raven
Site Planning Tool help reduce the risk of
non-conformance and ensure design stays
on budget,” Roberts said. “The end result
is optimal system performance and peace
of mind. At FLIR, we strive to be the airport’s
trusted partner not just for today’s
security needs, but also for the future.”
The integrator described additional
benefits of the FLIR solution and its ultimate
impact on airport operations.
“The solution provides ongoing visibility
of vehicle and cycling traffic along the
outer fence line, as well as the movement
of aircraft, cargo loaders, delivery trucks
and service vehicles within the perimeter,”
Castle said. “Bottom line is that the safety
of passengers, airline employees and service
workers is greatly enhanced, and the
expanded situational awareness gives the
airport more options for responding to
potential areas of concern.”
Future Plans
Having successfully implemented a robust
FLIR PIDS solution to protect the airport
perimeter, SJC plans to execute more security
improvements on the interior side of
the airport.
SJC has a robust network of security
cameras throughout ticketing areas,
Transportation Security Administration
entry points, terminals, concourses and
additional newly built airport areas. The
airport is continually evaluating camera
locations for upgrades to newer equipment
to provide increased coverage or higher
resolution camera views. Storage archivers
and updated client workstations are also
planned for as budgets get approved.
By partnering with FLIR, SJC is able
to use the most advanced technology
available on the market to provide safety
solutions and ensure the airport remains
a thriving transportation hub that attracts
new travelers.
This article originally appeared in the April 2020 issue of Security Today.