Airports and industry stakeholders, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the European Organisation for Security (EOS), Airports Council International (ACI) Europe and Avinor, have agreed in principle to open architecture for security screening technology throughout Europe.
Around the globe, transportation security equipment is moving towards a concept of open architecture – a technological framework that facilitates collaboration, shared resources and an outcome in which common goals are achieved. Open architecture principles will facilitate uniform standards and allow for a more agile response to emerging threats by focusing on open data formats, standard interfaces and the establishment of an operationally viable and cyber-secure approach to security systems.
“Technology and innovation within transportation security is evolving at a rapid pace and open architecture promises to improve how all transportation security agencies share data, integrate emerging technology at speed, remain cyber resilient and advance our mission,” said TSA Administrator, David Pekoske. “We remain committed to innovation and working collaboratively with our partners to increase the security baseline and improve the travelling experience.”
Meanwhile, ACI Europe’s DG, Olivier Jankovec, agreed that the collaboration of stakeholders has “the potential to unlock future applications, partnerships and solutions.”
In recent months, TSA has been working in collaboration with its international partners and stakeholders to update the Open Architecture for Airport Security Systems document, initially published in July 2020. To ensure the objectives and benefits set out in the document could be achieved, ACI Europe partnered with EOS to establish a structure where stakeholders can collaborate to develop the necessary technical recommendations and address questions on key areas, including liability and the protection of intellectual property.
In line with this latest collaboration, stakeholders are actively working to implement open architecture principles into the security screening system, focusing on open data formats such as Digital Imaging and Communications in Security (DICOS), standardised interfaces and establishing an operationally viable and cyber-secure approach to accessible property screening, on-person screening and identity verification.
