Spanish port pilots 5G-enabled facial recognition surveillance

Spain’s Port of Vigo is again the site of tracking and monitoring technology. This time, a group of vendors working with the government, have deployed face biometrics systems to control who accesses the facility.

According to regional publication PortsEurope, two 5G-enabled surveillance systems are being deployed. Telecommunication vendor Orange Spain is involved in both.

One project, bid last year at €26 million ($30.5 million today) will automate access control to the facility’s fish market using cloud-based facial recognition. Less is known about the second, other than it involves unmanned vessels performing maritime surveillance.

Working with telecommunications hardware maker Ericsson, Orange has implemented at least part of the surveillance pilot project, according to reporting by Telecompaper. Alerts and video coverage of people not authorized to be in the port will be shared in real time to staff monitoring conventional monitors, phones and glasses.

Captured faces will be categorized as authorized, unknown and prohibited.

The companies involved in the facial recognition pilots include Orange, Gammera Nest, Optare Solutions, Cinfo and others, according to an Orange post.

In 2018, Vigo was the site of a low-powered wide area network. Specifically, the project was based on long-range monitoring, and it was focused on small boats using the port.

Smart city technologies are a looming area of market growth, though concerns about facial recognition surveillance could potentially pose a barrier to their adoption.

Article Topics

5G  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  Ericsson  |  facial recognition  |  Orange  |  smart cities  |  video surveillance