Little Rock National Airport Protects Passengers with Combined Access Control and Smart Card/Biometric Solution

In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, Little Rock National Airport was intent on providing the safest airport experience for its customers. A major component of this task involved protecting restricted areas from unauthorized personnel. To do so, the airport set an ambitious goal: deploy a combined smart card reader/biometric fingerprint reader solution to ensure extremely tight control of movement within the facility and eliminate unauthorized entry.

Little Rock National Airport is Arkansas' largest commercial service airport, serving more than 2.1 million passengers annually. It attracts passengers from a large part of Arkansas as well as a number of surrounding states. There are more than 150 airline flight arrivals and departures at Little Rock each day.

Airport security is not only responsible for the airport’s own 150 employees, but also for airport “tenants” who work for various airlines or in airport restaurants and gift shops. As one of the first airports to consider a dual card reader/biometric solution, they were breaking new ground. They developed an RFP with help from Garver Engineers, an Arkansas-based engineering firm , who hired security consultants Jim Brindle Associates to work out the technical specifications required for the 210,000 square foot facility.

Airport officials sought a solution that would seamlessly integrate biometric and smart card technology, and easily enable future upgrades. This would provide multiple layers of security while preserving an easy-to-use system for airport personnel and card holders as well. Another key criterion was the ability to easily create custom reports and to adjust how alarm activities were displayed on monitoring screens.

Airport officials chose security integrator Advent Systems Inc., who recommended both Software House and BioScrypt products. “These companies have great reputations,” said Tim Doll, director of operations for Little Rock National Airport. “We found Software Houses’ customers were very happy with them.”

Based on Advent’s recommendation, the security officials replaced their outdated security system with Software House C•CURE^® 800/8000 and iSTAR™ controllers, a scalable security management solution encompassing complete access control, along with HID iCLASS^® smart card and biometric fingerprint readers from BioScrypt, Inc. Advent installed 110 readers controlling access to airport doors and vehicle gates.

The airport also installed a dedicated security backbone in the terminal, which includes redundant servers to prevent loss of information in the case of a hardware failure. System redundancy is transparent to users; if the main server fails, service is restored instantly via the backup server. Using separate standalone servers prevents any unauthorized entry into the security system through the airport LAN.

Switching to a new security system in an airport is no easy task. Advent Systems, Inc. was responsible for keeping the facility secure at all times, which required running both security systems concurrently until all aspects of the new system were fully tested. “This went along seamlessly,” Doll said. “There were no hiccups at all. The engineering departments for Software House, Advent Systems, and BioScrypt worked together to make everything work smoothly. The products work great together.”

Before the system went live, Advent Systems trained airport personnel, including the operations director, security staff, badging clerks, dispatchers, and maintenance staff. “Our users love the new system because they feel more secure,” Doll said. “It’s made our dispatchers’ lives so much easier. Our previous system displayed coded text on the monitors, so dispatchers would have to know what each code meant for each alarm. C•CURE simply displays a map of the terminal building with a flashing light indicating the location of the door in alarm mode on the map, tells the dispatcher the reason for the alarm, such as ‘door forced open’ and shows a picture of the person using the door along with pertinent information about them.”

Today, all new airport tenants, contractors, and employees who require access to restricted areas provide a fingerprint and background investigation in order to receive a badge. The fingerprint is stored on the smart card, which also contains a specific security level that defines which doors and gates each person can access.

Whenever entering a secure area, the user presents his proximity smart card to the card reader, which flashes a green light indicating that the card contains authorized clearances and that he should proceed with the biometric verification. The user then places his finger on the fingerprint reader, which connects to the C•CURE database to verify the user’s authenticity. If authenticity is confirmed, the door automatically opens. If the system identifies an unauthorized person seeking access, it automatically alerts the police and sends a report to the communications center, along with a photo of the person whose card is being used, key information about the user, and the reason for access denial, such as lost or stolen card. With the pertinent data and photo in hand, communications center dispatchers can instantly provide police with a description of the individual.

The airport has issued approximately 1,900 cards to date. Airport tenants are required to notify badging personnel immediately if someone is no longer in their employ so they can automatically disable the badge in C•CURE.

“Today, the airport is more secure,” Doll said. “We have better reporting capabilities. We have more control over monitoring and changing things on the system than we did before. I can sit at my desktop and change parameters on any door in the airport, pull up a report if someone left a door open, and have information within seconds on who went through the door last. It’s worked out great. I get four to five calls a month from other airports looking to do the same thing.”

During the specification process, Doll kept the Federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) apprised of the new security processes. The agency is pleased that the airport has eliminated the chance of someone using a lost badge to gain access. The TSA is considering making this type of system mandatory for all airports.

The airport continues to enhance its security capabilities with plans to integrate all security systems to work with the Software House C•CURE 800.

With these new stringent security measures in place, the airport offers passengers increased peace of mind during their travel to and from the region.