The role of electronic security systems integration in airport management

Following the provisions of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, category A civil airports and dockyards were required to provide methods to control access to secure areas within their facilities. In the airports this was defined as physical measures consisting of fences, searches, (along with equipment to help with these searches) and machine readable ID cards. The first of this equipment was installed to meet the requirements of the Act before April 1990. Subsequent to this installation the systems have been considerably developed to meet both the changing requirements of the Department of Transport and the increasing desires of airport operators to run their facilities more efficiently. This paper charts the development of these systems, from their original position as a security and legal requirement, to the role they now play in overall facility management, and proposes approaches to continuing development