What Is Facial Recognition Technology?How Does It Work? And the List Of Airports

The government of India has taken a considerable initiative by introducing the paperless entry system ‘DigiYatra’ at selected airports to make air travel hassle-free this Thursday. 

These selected airports will use facial recognition software meaning passengers won’t need to carry their ID card and boarding pass while traveling.

In the month of August 2022  the soft launch of the Centre’s DigiYatra initiative was announced by The Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), run by GMR and they rolled out the beta version of its app for Android platforms. 

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The first phase of the initiative will comprise seven airports.

Starting with three:

• Delhi
• Bengaluru
• Varanasi 

The Delhi airport holds the required infrastructure set up at the airport’s Terminal 3, while the other airports are also setting up the requisite infra for it.

The following four airports would have the technology launched by March 2023.

•  Hyderabad,
•  Kolkata, 
• Pune, and 
• Vijayawada 

The technology will be implemented across the country eventually. 

 DigiYatra: What is it and how will it work?

• DigiYatra or the facial recognition technology allows the passengers to pass through checkpoints at the airport and it's all paperless and contactless processing.
• The facial features will be used to establish their identity linked to the boarding pass. 
• The checkpoints where the facial feature technology would be installed include entry into the airport, security check areas, aircraft boarding, etc.

Airlines offer facial recognition technology:

The facility will be available for passengers taking domestic flights at:

• Air India, 
• Vistara and 
• IndiGo  

SpiceJet, GoFirst and Akasa Air are yet to offer the DigiYatra facility.

DigiYatra: How can you avail the facility?

• You can avail this service by registering your details on the DigiYatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self image capture.
•  The next step includes the scanning of the boarding pass. The credentials are shared with airport authorities that way.
•  The passenger has to first scan the bar coded boarding pass and the facial recognition system installed at the e-gate . This will validate the passenger’s identity and travel document. 
• After this process is done the passenger can enter the airport through the e-gate.
• The passenger will have to follow the normal procedure to clear security and board the aircraft.

How is DigiYatra being implemented?

The project is being implemented by the DigiYatra Foundation company whose shareholders are:

• Airports Authority of India (26% stake)
• Bengaluru Airport, 
• Delhi Airport, 
• Hyderabad Airport, 
• Mumbai Airport and 
• Cochin International Airport. 

The Facial recognition technology or DigiYatra is a valuable addition as it makes flying more convenient and reduces the painstaking congestion at airports. 

It is now at various airports across the globe, including Dubai, Singapore, Atlanta and Narita (Japan). 

It has helped bring efficiency into the identity detection system of airports all around the world.

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