Security System Takes Wing
Police department monitors airfield operations center
- By Kim Rahfaldt
- Jan 01, 2013
Springfield-Branson National Airport, located
in Springfield, Mo., which has a population of
400,000, recently underwent a large expansion
project. Its six-gate terminal was no longer
supporting the increasing air traffic from
its four airlines, so the airport built a new terminal
on the opposite side of the airfield. The
new facility currently has 10 gates with the
capability of expanding to more than 50 gates.
A new terminal required a new security
management system.
Randy Riley, airport director and assistant
director of operations worked with AMAG and
several third-party vendors to provide a sophisticated
yet easy to use system that met strict
TSA requirements. Symmetry secured the
main terminal building, its seven satellite buildings,
the perimeter fence and 10 vehicle gates
via fiber optic cable that surrounds the airfield.
The Springfield-Branson airport employs
a police department that monitors security
in the Airport Operations Center (AOC). Inside
the AOC, furnished with Winsted consoles,
sit two workstations that include three large
monitors. One monitor graphically shows an
overview of the entire airport. The police can
see the entire building and zoom in on areas
that are in alarm while displaying in real time
a rolling count of who is swiping their card
throughout the airport.
On Screen
The second monitor displays camera views
using the Symmetry video matrix. The third
monitor is for alarms. When an alarm sounds,
the camera associated with the alarm zooms
in on the area. A trigger is set so a pop-up
screen appears on the monitor to provide
a closer look. That pop-up screen will also
appear on a 50-inch wall monitor, normally
used to display flight information, to provide
a larger look at the area in alarm.
“The camera view is automatically tagged
to its alarm,” Riley said. “If the police want to
go back and review the video, they can instantly
pull it up on the screen to view it.”
The video is stored in an Intransa Video-
Appliance for 30 days. The VideoAppliance
holds 58 terabytes of optimized video and
RAID protected storage, and it is designed to
eliminate the risk of lost video and downtime.
Security integrator C&C Group installed
the airport’s comprehensive security management
system, which includes more than
150 fixed and PTZ AXIS IP cameras that
monitor all access-controlled doorways, jet
bridge doorways, general areas and the holding
room.
“If an alarm sounds in a jet bridge, the security
staff can see two viewing angles,” said
Martin Dowman, C&C Group’s operations
manager. “They can see views from a fixed
and PTZ camera. A person in the control
room can move the PTZ to get a better view
or follow someone throughout the terminal.”
In the Right Spot
Indoor PTZ cameras are also positioned to
view outside activity.
“At the end of a jet bridge in the turret
is an emergency exit door,” Dowman said.
“That door leads to the tarmac, and pilots
walk through it to perform plane inspections
prior to take-off. If someone passes through the door that does not have access
or someone breaks through the door, a delayed
egress alarm will sound and a PTZ
camera will swing around and begin recording
through a glass wall to catch what’s going
on outside.”
“I am very pleased with how the alarms
and cameras are integrated and how the
triggers operate,” Riley said. “It’s smooth
and does most of the work for us. When an
alarm sounds, the cameras are automatically
pulled up so we can view it. We aren’t fumbling
through video. It’s very nice.”
Airport officials also use an integration
kit that is synchronized with the police department’s
paging system. When an alarm
sounds, all officers on duty, including the
sergeant, are alerted through a page. The
airport found it beneficial to have all police
officers notified simultaneously. Everyone
is up to date, and the officer closest to the
alarm can respond. In an emergency situation,
all officers can respond and call for
backup if necessary.
Badging Requirements
All staff, contractors and vendors wear colorcoded
badges to identify themselves and
where they are allowed access in the airport.
TSA rules require that all commercial airport
employees who need a badge must pass
an online training test, and TSA and the FAA require
a background fingerprint check to enter
the Secure Identification Display Areas (SIDA)
of an airport. Once they pass the background
check, commercial airport employees are issued
a badge that identifies they have access.
General aviation staff have access only
to non-commercial ramps, and their badge
color reflects their access areas.
All components of the management system
are connected to an NEC fault-tolerant
server. Fault-tolerant servers provide an innovative
solution to address planned and
unplanned downtime for these important
security applications. The servers deliver
continuous uptime through their fully redundant
modular hardware, which provides continuous
availability in all components: CPU,
memory, motherboards, I/O, hard disk drives
and cooling fans.
In the event of a failover with any server
component, the server automatically switches
over to the redundant server and reports
the failure to the police for component replacement.
“The system runs on the primary set of
computer boards,” Dowman said. “If a board
or component fails, they can change the
board or component out and it starts working
immediately. The system is capable of never
losing control. The hot swappable capability
is valuable; the IT staff can handle a server
failure and still continue to run the system.”
Voice Messaging
Managing the flow of traffic on and off the
airfield are 10 vehicle gates surrounding the
airfield. Each vehicle gate requires a card
swipe to enter the airfield. If a service truck
needs to gain access, TSA requirements demand
a positive identification of all people
entering the airfield. A Stentofon intercom
provides a fast way for officers to speak with
drivers. When the intercom is activated, it
alerts AOC and a camera zooms in on the
driver. An officer can speak to the driver as
well as verify identity and allow access.
“Stentofon intercoms are used when vehicles,
such as trash trucks, need to enter the
airfield,” Riley said. “Trash trucks notify the
AOC they need access, and the police meet
them at the intercom and search the trucks prior to entrance. Once the truck passes a
search inspection, they are escorted onto the
airfield to pick up trash.”
“This project shows how access control
and video are strengthened with the use of
high-quality audio and voice for critical environments,”
said Dan Rothrock, senior vice
president of OEM global sales at Stentofon.
“The ability to hear and speak adds a major
component to the integrated security mix
that video and access control has to offer.”
Since the initial installation, the airport
built a rental car facility, which added eight
more Axis cameras.
This article originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of Security Today.