The conundrum of delayed flights may be a thing of the past in the next decade. Singapore’s Changi airport is testing facial recognition systems to help process passengers faster. According to airport officials, this inclusion well help locate lost or distracted passengers who are late for their flight.

Airport officials are aware about – but are also dismissing – ‘big brother’ worries, saying the system is to solve real problems. As Singapore evolves from developed country into a smart nation, the country wants to use technology to improve efficiency.

Changi’s facial recognition proposal places cameras up on lamp posts to scan for individuals in their databases. With permission, airport personnel will then be able to detect and find people of an upcoming flight. Chinese firm Yitu, is in discussions with Changi Airport Group to bring this technology over. Its facial recognition technology identifies more than 1.8 billion faces in less than 3 seconds.

Note that Changi’s newest terminal, T4, already uses facial recognition technology. Self-service options at check-in, bag drop, immigration, and boarding represent some of its offerings. The implications of this technology are fewer queues and fewer visible airport staff.

Passengers basically drop luggage at unmanned booths, take their photo, and match it against their passport. Following this, a picture is used to verify their identity at the boarding gate, allowing passage without having to show one’s passport.

The airport sees T4 as a test bed for it’s fifth terminal, which goes up and running in a decade. It is also looking to upgrade its three other terminals at bag drop and immigration using this technology. In the future, a passport may not even be necessary as more airports adopt this technology.

(Source: Reuters)