TSA may draft its new airport security tech from the NFL
Airport security is changing at a more rapid pace than many travelers realize. Holograms, robots, iris and fingerprint-scanning biometric systems, and passive scanners capable of analyzing crowds from 50 feet away increasingly make up components of the security process. The TSA has shared that its vision of the checkpoint of the future is just a free-flowing hallway without any sort of actual gauntlet bottlenecking passenger – a future that could be only five to 10 years away.
But 10 years is still plenty of time for airport security to evolve and grow. And one possible high-tech stopgap between then and now may be intercepted from a surprising source: the NFL.
The San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium is among the most technologically advanced sports arenas in the world, thanks in no small part to its Silicon Valley-adjacent location. Bluetooth beacons proliferate throughout the space, 40 mbps Wi-Fi is accessible from 600 access points, and 2,000 television screens ensure that nobody misses a second of the action, even when their backs are to the field. But the technological marvel that the TSA has its eye on is the security checkpoint system that fans pass through in order to enter the grounds.
The Qylatron Entry Experience Solution – yes, that is really its name, folks – is a futuristic combination scanner that reads tickets, analyzes bodies as they pass through, and scans belongings for potential threats. The system looks like something from a far off planet where giant bees evolved to rule the world. Radiation and chemical sensors survey the passers-by for explosives, X-ray machines scan for weapons, and a color-coded light array gently guides users through the process with green, red and purple prompts.
The Qylatron can process 600 people and their belongings each hour, and the system takes only four employees to operate. Compare that to the current staffing numbers required to operate the snaking lines and multiple whizzing and beeping arches and belts of the current airport security set-up, and you can see why the TSA is so interested.
Belongings aren't opened, laptops and liquids aren't removed, and people are free to pass through without removing any articles of clothing. The entire process takes just seconds, and in a recent study, the Qylatron earned nearly perfect scores in core security, operational efficiency – and most telling of all – a near perfect score in guest experience. It almost seems as if people actually enjoy using this system.
The Qylatrons are currently in the midst of a trial run at Levi's Stadium, screening visitors on all but game days, which of course remains the big test. The tech has also been deployed at Disneyland Paris and in Brazil during the World Cup. But most promising of all, the TSA began an 18 month test of the Qylatron in October for airport deployment.