Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is the only airport serving as a year-round getaway for two Yellowstone National Park entrances. Established in 1941, the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport provides, operates and safely maintains an aviation facility to service the needs of the flying public in Montana. The 2,481 acre airport enplanes nearly 400,000 passengers per year and more than 73,000 aircraft operations.
Last year, Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport expanded its terminal area by adding 125,000 square feet of space, including three additional gates, a new baggage claim carrousel, expanded food and beverage and gift concessions area. With the additional space and increase in air travel from the airport, Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport decided to upgrade its aging surveillance system. Bozeman previously had two DVRs and numerous analog cameras that only covered the old terminal area. The outdated analog system did not provide the coverage needed or high enough resolution images to clearly identify incidents. To create a new surveillance solution, Bozeman worked with Video & Sound Service Inc. to replace all of their analog cameras with new IP cameras, review various access control systems and video management systems (VMS) and select a reliable solution that would be easy to operate.
Video & Sound Service installed the exacqVision Enterprise VMS, integrated with an RS2 Technologies access control system. The exacqVision software solution, combined with 135 Axis 3.1 megapixel IP cameras proved to be the most efficient surveillance solution. exacqVision was chosen for its extreme ease of use, flexibility and its ability to integrate with third-party systems like RS2 Technologies access control.
A team of seven public safety officers work 24/7 to ensure the airport is secure at all times through the command control center. Axis pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras and exacqVision VMS provide complete coverage of the parking lots, baggage claim, ticketing/check-in, retail shops, food court, terminals, vehicle gates, security, control tower, runways and car rental area. exacqVision allows them to view all cameras simultaneously to better manage potential problems at gates and taxiways. In addition, the Bozeman airport has more than 100,000 square feet of behind the scenes space that is monitored. With exacqVision software’s functionality to easily share camera views, Bill Dove, Public Safety Chief, administered other appropriate airport personnel privileges to view the client software through the Enterprise user setup page. Airport Director, Brian Sprenger, and Assistant Director, Scott Humphrey, along with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel have access to view the exacqVision client software to use for their specific purposes. For example, exacqVision VMS software was able to capture video of a baggage cart being damaged while being transported from the airplane to the baggage handling area. Public safety officers discovered that a damaged garage door crashed into the baggage cart by using the exacqVision thumbnail search feature. The thumbnail search enabled them to easily zoom in and out of thumbnail images of video to quickly find that the cart was moving through as the door came down, not tripping the safety features and damaging the door as well. They were able to use this clip to determine how the baggage cart was damaged and identify the individual responsible for the damage.
Every time TSA staff members inspect a bag in the security checkpoint area, the video is recorded and reviewed as evidence if the traveler claims any items are missing after the inspection. Recently, two travelers claimed they had someone else’s laptop. Public safety staff members were able to search the video and see that the two people had switched laptops while in the TSA checkpoint area. The video clip from this event and others have proven to be very useful. Video can be easily exported and emailed to passengers, airport administrators or the FBI to use as evidence or for insurance liability requirements.
“Anytime a passenger complains of lost or stolen items, we can quickly search the video to investigate what happened to the items,” Dove said. "ExacqVision VMS allows us to store up to 89 days of recorded video with more than half our storage capacity remaining."
exacqVision Enterprise VMS software provided airport public safety officers with advanced event monitoring and triggers functionality. Public safety officers now have the ability to monitor and manage various events simultaneously occurring in different areas of the airport. More than 150 airport doors are controlled through the integrated maps within exacqVision software.
Doors can easily be opened or closed by selecting the name or icon of the door trigger on through the maps within the client software.
The VMS client software also automatically displays video of doors with motion as it is occurring through the video wall virtual matrix switching. This sophisticated functionality enables the public safety officers to actively monitor all airport areas without having to click anything. “In the event that a door is held open beyond the length of time it is supposed to be open, we can quickly review the video and immediately respond to the issue,” noted Dove.
exacqVision Enterprise VMS integrated with its access control system, RS2 Technologies, which provided Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport with a complete, comprehensive surveillance solution. As each airport employee scans their badge to enter the facility, a photo of the employee immediately pops up within the VMS software in the command center. This allows safety officers to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering restricted areas of the airport.
Administrators, public safety staff and TSA personnel have access to the video at all times with the included exacq Mobile app. They can view and search video on their iPhones and iPads. Dove watches video of all door alarms and monitors the facility from anywhere in the airport, making him more efficient to do his job.
The new surveillance system exceeds Bozeman Yellowstone’s growing travel demands as well as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirements. Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is equipped with the latest security technology and positioned to capture and record any slips, trips and falls that may occur within the airport. Video from exacqVision Enterprise software has already proven its value.
“One of the biggest reasons we chose exacqVision VMS was the ability to view activity from any camera on our iPhones and iPads at all times. After installing exacqVision Enterprise VMS, we saw an immediate ease in searching video that we did not have before. Airport security became much more efficient, concluded Dove.