Biometrics gateways at Birmingham International Airport are now in full operation. The gateway adopts facial recognition technology which has been installed at eight UK airports. It measures feature points on a traveller’s face and compares them to the digital photograph on the passport.

Besides facial recognition, the gateway also read the information stored on a chipset inlayed on the passport and cross checks the passport holder against security watch-lists updated on the main system. The UK Border Agency assistant director believes the new technology will improve their service and offers tightened security measures for the passengers as well as the country.

Source: BBCnews, Face recognition scanners in use at Birmingham Airport (3 Mar 2010)