Toronto Pearson International Airport Increases Security and Reduces Costs with T-DARR

  • Jul 04, 2011

Security managers at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada are poised to benefit from a reduction in operating costs with the July 1, 2011 deployment of the recently constructed tailgate prevention system featuring T-DARR stereo vision technology developed by Newton Security Inc.

The T-DAR system, which stands for Tailgate Detection Alarm and Recording, was installed by Hart-Well Electric Ltd. of Mississauga, Ontario at the employee-only access point leading into a service area where different agencies have offices, and is intended to identify and prevent any occurrence of "piggybacking" or "tailgating" at this sensitive location.

These two innocuous-sounding terms are actually serious, well-recognized security threats. Piggybacking occurs when an authorized person holds a secure door open for another person who is perceived to have access approval. Tailgating is the act of an unauthorized individual following an authorized person through a door without their knowledge. Both of these violations bypass the capability of an electronic security system to detect and reject a suspicious individual, or someone using an invalid or fraudulent identity pass.

The elimination of piggybacking and tailgating security threats is a result of installing Newton T-DAR technology into a mantrap configuration. The 5 ft. by 7 ft. (1.5m X 2.1m) mantrap, or security vestibule, is an enclosed area with one door in the public area and another, always locked door into the secure area. In the space between doors is a biometric iris scanner and two, ceiling-mounted T-DAR stereo vision cameras. The T-DAR system is a patented combination of machine vision and sophisticated software which has the ability to identify, tag and track the human form within the mantrap, insuring that there is only one person present, while ignoring carts, luggage or parcels. Once the identity of a single individual is established, the public door is electronically locked and the door to the secure area is unlocked for that transit only. If T-DAR detects more than one person in the mantrap, a recorded warning is sounded instructing the mantrap to be cleared and a single entry be tried again in 10 seconds.

Airport security operating costs will be reduced because before the T-DAR installation, a guard was required to be posted 24/7 at the employee entry.

The T-DAR system operates without the need of on-location monitoring or operation by security personnel, which results in considerable annual savings.

The U.S. and Canadian patented T-DAR technology has been approved by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and is already installed at six major airports: Victoria International Airport, Edmonton International Airport, the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, London International Airport in Ontario, Kelowna International Airport in B.C. and the Quebec International Airport. Additional installations are in the planning stage.

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