High-tech airport CCTV comes to Europe

Finland's Vantaa airport serving Helsinki is to roll out smart CCTV technology in an attempt to improve security and make travelling easier for passengers.

SmartCatch technology from digital surveillance specialist Vidient automatically monitors CCTV footage and can recognise potential security threats. It also flags up operational issues such as building queues and bottlenecks of human traffic through customs and security.

Jyri Vikstrom, head of corporate security at airport authority Finavia, said Helsinki airport has 500 CCTV cameras. Effectively monitoring all of those feeds 24 hours per day with humans is a task of logistical near-impossibility.

Vikstrom said in a statement: "That's why we were very keen to find a solution that reduces the burden of work falling to our security personnel so that they have enough time to focus on genuinely serious security breaches."

The system can alert staff to events which may need further investigation without the need for every camera to be observed by staff. For example, suspect packages or vehicles left unattended will be flagged up and staff alerted.

Similarly if the system detects queues growing beyond a pre-defined length in the security zone staff will be alerted of the need to open another lane, speeding time through check-in and reducing congestion in one of the airport's most secure areas.

In April, silicon.com became the first publication to see Vidient's SmartCatch system at work inside San Francisco International Airport. For the full story and photos, click here.