Products

Vanguard

Automated Passenger Processing

Introduction and Overview

Latest product from Damarel helps airports comply with new 2D Barcode security regulations.

The recent explosion in Web check-in has seen more and more passengers arrive at the airport carrying home printed boarding cards (HPBC), allowing them to bypass the normal check-in process and proceed straight to security.

This has been a great benefit to travellers and airlines alike, speeding the general check-in process and allowing passengers to move more quickly through the airport. The downside is that these new document types also need to be thoroughly checked to ensure that they are valid, and not duplicates.

IATA's Simplifying the Business (StB) initiative has been a major driver, and with the advent of Resolution 792, covering the use of PDF417 2D barcodes on boarding cards, most airlines are now producing compliant documentation that can be checked quickly and securely at the airport.

Security

Airlines and government departments are demanding increased checks on 2D barcode home printed boarding cards, including:

• Checking the validity of the presented boarding pass
• Ensuring duplicate passes are recognised and rejected
• Controlling access according to the list of active flights

With heightened security concerns requiring greater vigilance, and national security guidelines demanding validation of 2D bar coded passes, getting the checks right, and getting them right quickly, is fundamental to the safe, efficient operation of the airport.

The Solution

Vanguard is the latest offering from Damarel, designed specifically to target this security issue. Vanguard offers a powerful, integrated software solution which delivers an immediate Go/No Go decision to the operator as a document is scanned.

At its simplest, Vanguard will read the passenger's document and check to ensure it is a valid boarding pass and that it is not a duplicate. This is the most basic test, and automates much of the manual process currently performed by the security agent, leaving them free to concentrate on any other processes they may be responsible for, such as image capturing and security profiling.

Moving on from that, Vanguard can also be configured to check the passenger's flight details against a list of active flights retrieved from the airport's AODB or FIDS system, ensuring that the document is not only valid, but that it is valid for a flight operating from that particular terminal. This powerful extension ensures the maximum possible security with mininum inpact on passenger processing times.

Vanguard doesn't just stop at 2D documents - it can also be configured to read IATA format ATB2 magnetic stripe boarding passes, giving the same degree of comfort and security for those passengers who have used the traditional check-in methods. By scanning all passengers, whatever their document type, the airport can also derive passenger flow and statistical data, such as dwell time reports - important information when analysing an airport's operation.

For those airports with additional security requirements, Vanguard can be also be configured to cross-check the boarding card against the passenger's passport to ensure the two documents match.

Vanguard can also be integrated with self-service gates to allow the passenger to scan their own documents for entry through a controlled door, helping the drive toward full automation of the passenger handling process.

Operational Benefits

Vanguard is designed to provide a fully automated, secure solution to controlling passenger access to restricted areas. Vanguard delivers benefits across the board:

• Designed to meet new airline and regulatory authority requirements for 2D barcode documents
• Supports all modern document types, including 2D Barcodes (IATA Resolution 972, including PDF417, Aztec, Datamatrix and QR code) and ATB2 Magnetic Stripe, support the StB initiative
• Automatically validates boarding passes against a list of operating flights
• Provides an instant Go/No Go decision, reducing the scope for human error and increasing the speed of passenger flow
• Integrates with AODB and FIDS systems for live flight information
• Includes full audit trail and history reporting
• Uses off-the-shelf 2D barcode and ATB2 readers available from many suppliers
• Can be used standalone or integrated with a CUTE platform
• Is completely scalable - from the smallest regional airport to the largest international

Airport Wide Cover 

Vanguard is designed as an airport-wide, networked solution, ensuring that all security points have immediate access to up-to-date information, including previously scanned passes, flight schedule and airline changes.

With a centralised monitoring tool, the airport operator has a complete overview of the status of all connected devices, allowing for immediate visibility and resolution of any problems.

Management Reporting 

Vanguard provides a wealth of information back to the airport operator, including important operational data such as:

• Coupon read statistics
• Individual scan times and positions
• Passenger traffic, broken down into many categories, including airline, flight, terminal and security position

Airports can derive extremely useful operational information such as peak traffic volumes and positions from the stored data, allowing for more informed resource allocation and queue modelling.

Vanguard also provides information for dwell time reports, based on the time at which passengers for a particular flight pass through security. This is an important tool for airports looking to maximise airside revenue potential.

Airlines and Handling Agents 

With many more passengers now checking-in at home, the boarding gate is often the first contact point that airlines have with the passenger. In an environment that relies on tight turnarounds and on-time departures, missing passengers can lead to serious operational problems.

Vanguard helps remove the uncertainty from this, providing an optional viewer that allows the airline to determine whether, and at what time, a particular passenger has passed through security. This allows them to make an informed decision about closing the aircraft doors for departure.

Operational Platform

Vanguard is available as a standalone application or integrated into the CUTE platform. It is also available to run on networked devices using the Windows Mobile™ platform.

Vanguard is traditionally deployed using an Oracle® RDBMS, providing a fast, secure data storage solution. Other database formats may be supported as required.

Vanguard supports all the common boarding card formats, including IATA PDF 417 2D bar code (printed and mobile) and ATB2. Support for 2D digital signatures will be added as soon as the IATA standard has been updated.

To discuss how Vanguard Passenger Processing System or any of Damarel's other products can help your operation, please contact us by phone +44 (0)1252  783787 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it