Use Cases

The FLEXI-cross project will instantiate three representative UCs covering road, port and rail-based border-crossing conditions in three different sites, namely the Danube-based port of Galati in Romania, the Greek-Bulgarian borders at Ormenio, and the Romanian-Moldovan rail crossing.

UC1 (Romania/Galati port) - Enhanced protection and biometric checks for European ports:

The objective of this UC is to demonstrate the capabilities of the FLEXI-cross toolkit and to provide the operators with the capabilities to perform biometrics checks of people disembarking from vessels arriving at this port. This is to provide the possibility to check in real time what is happening on the scene, supporting the operators in their daily routine with powerful mobile equipment that will allow the operators to verify the identity of people crossing and their abnormal behaviour by analysing some possible risks related to embarking or disembarking activities themselves. In the context of this trial, a system will be deployed using various technologies such as AR glasses, face recognition mobile app, etc.

 

Demo Scenario: The focus is on the enhancement of the port security and control procedures for passengers and their luggage, through the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies, such as AR glasses and face recognition, that will improve the operational capability of port authorities and customs agencies, to validate passengers’ IDs and detect, identify and prevent smuggling and trafficking attempts via sea. Advanced and portable biometric technology will be used by port authorities and local police to quickly, safely and securely validate the IDs of the passengers/crew of berthed ships, before disembarkation, providing extremely high levels of data privacy.

 

The technologies will be integrated with the officers’ mobile devices for portability and (re)configurability, and assist the officers by providing instructions for the faster and more efficient deployment of the agents across the port, based on the available personnel, the incoming ships and their respective risk assessment. Additional portable equipment may be deployed to assist with luggage scanning and the detection of potential smuggling attempts.

Facilities: The border facilities involved in this use case are Sea Port check-in and check-out infrastructure.

UC2 (Greece-Bulgaria borders) - Intelligent and dynamic customs procedures for improved border-crossing experience on the road:

The objective of this UC is to demonstrate the capabilities of an integrated system (used by operators and travelers) that merges legacy border control systems involved in the day-to-day tasks of the border authorities with state-of-art deployable and mobile checking technologies. In doing this, Border Control operations will become less time-consuming, as well as more efficient and effective. A system will be built, that will integrate existing devices and systems used by the Hellenic Police at the Ormenio BCP, such as finger-print control devices, vehicle plate recognition system, etc.

 

The new devices/systems delivered by the FLEXI-cross partners will upgrade the security level and enable new, innovative border-control functions, such as ML-based platforms, drones and On-Board Units, which will be integrated into a single platform that will be accessible from both a base station and a mobile device that will collect and manage data from different devices, systems, sensors. The platform will send alerts to all involved operators, creating a common operating picture and could also support decision-making and cross-nation data sharing.

 

Demo Scenario: (a) Truck carrying hidden illegal material, (b) Truck carrying hidden migrants, (c) Rented car tries to cross the BCP, (d) Driver/passenger attempts to cross with false documents, and (e) Addressing sudden surge in incoming vehicles via a dynamic deployment of additional resources.

 

Facilities: (a) Ormenio BCP and, (b) publicly available 5G and IoT networks.

UC3 (Romania- Moldova borders) - Intelligent, secure and portable border checking system, for the facilitation of rail travel:

The objective of this UC is to create a software platform that allows relevant authorities to link parents’ and their children’s biometric identification data and travel documents. It will also be used by border control authorities, featuring delegation of custody rights using blockchain. Biometric traits for minors change fast until adulthood is reached and minors arriving illegally usually lack any form of travel or even ID documents. Thus, verifying any legal guardianship between them and the people accompanying them (if any) is usually impossible. Using portable devices connected via 5G for multimodal biometry allows Law Enforcement Agencies to check in real-time any person in their territory against various databases. Blockchain enables trustworthy data authenticity checks for documents of passengers and goods arriving at external EU borders.

 

Demo Scenario: The demo will start with the registration and linkage of biometric data of volunteering passengers by the authorities’ officers. The app for the border checking authorities will be installed in relevant officers’ devices. Custody delegation and registration of information regarding an unaccompanied minor into the system will be also performed. The registered information includes biographic information, biometrics and any other information that the minor can provide. The trust level of the input information is controlled by the authorities.

 

Facilities: (a) VITAL-5G Testbed in Galati, (b) S2P Testbed for speech biometry, (c) STAMINA Testbed for pandemics, and (d) PAPUD Testbed for Profiling using deep learning.

 

FLEXI-Cross UC & technologies overview