June 19, 2006
Australian IT: The $67 million customs automated border processing system will begin operating next year with a single SmartGate Series 1 kiosk in each of the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports. The first operational unit will be installed in February.
The system incorporates facial recognition technology, which matches a live image of the traveler against a digitized photo stored on a microchip embedded in the passport. If the images match, the traveler is cleared through the control point. If not, the traveler will be referred to a Customs officer for further examination.