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| SightSensors are thermal cameras with integrated video analytics, automatically detecting intruders |
Airport security has been greatly enhanced for Torp Sandefjord Airport, Norway through the deployment of SightLogix smart thermal intrusion detection cameras. Installed in 2014, the solution has been providing long-range, automated protection over key areas of the airport.
Airport security risks
As a popular alternative to Oslo Airport, Torp Sandefjord serves approximately 1.5 million passengers a year traveling to Western Europe as well as emerging economies in Eastern Europe, where risks from cargo theft, avionics theft, and controlled substance smuggling require constant vigilance.
Additionally, high-profile incidents at airports around the world made it clear to Sandefjord’s directors that they needed to strengthen their airport security posture.
Solving airport security challenges with technology
Before SightLogix, Sandefjord had been relying on a combination of perimeter fences, surveillance cameras and roving guards to protect the site. Looking for a more effective solution, the airport turned to SightLogix Certified Integrator Focus Security, a Norwegian security firm dedicated to solving security challenges for critical assets throughout northern Europe. They suggested the airport move from a passive security posture to a pre-emptive automated approach using SightLogix SightSensors. SightSensors are thermal cameras with integrated video analytics, automatically detecting intruders over large outdoor sites with high accuracy and low costs.
SightSensors offer several capabilities that make them an excellent choice for the difficult job of protecting airport perimeters. As thermal devices, they detect intruders in complete darkness as well as glare conditions caused by the rising or setting sun, headlights, reflected light and other sources. SightSensors also support built-in electronic stabilisation to ensure a high probability of detection without false alerts caused by wind or airport vibrations. And they are capable of detecting intruders over long and wide distances, up to 600 meters away, allowing a single camera to cover the same area that would require many visible light cameras. This enables Torp Sandefjord Airport to take advantage of significant cost savings while ensuring accurate and reliable intruder detection.
The SightLogix airport security system at Torp
With the smart thermal solution in place, intruders that violate rules trigger an alarm, sending video of the event and the target’s precise GPS location to the airport’s Security Operations Centre, where security personnel monitor and verify the threat in real time. The target’s location is simultaneously projected onto a sitemap of the airport for situational awareness. The result is a blanket of automated awareness around all of the critical areas of the expansive airport.
“The SightLogix system has taken Sandefjord Airport to the forefront of land-based security technology at airports,” said Ellen Sandnes of Torp Sandefjord Airport. “We offer a safe and enjoyable travel experience to our customers.”
By enhancing the airport’s security with, round the clock intruder detection, the airport realised great cost savings by leveraging existing personnel much more effectively. Instead of hiring additional guards, which in that part of Europe can cost up to $25,000 per month, the existing force has been empowered with instant notification about the nature and location of a security breach day and night, and can initiate a fast and direct response.
“Achieving security awareness at airports is a global challenge for the transportation industry,” said John Romanowich, SightLogix President and CEO. “We are pleased that SightLogix solutions are helping solve these challenges for Torp Sandefjord Airport.”
