The Boston Independence Day Ceremony adopts RFID to manage the access control of the command center
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On July 3-4, the Boston Pops were held on the Esplanade by the Charles River, and 500,000 spectators came to the area, and organizers called 20 federal and local agencies to ensure their safety. The annual event, which includes a July 4 fireworks display, is managed by the nonprofit Boston 4 Productions (B4) and is the largest Independence Day celebration in the nation. At this time of year, these public safety agencies establish a general command center (UCC) in a student union building at a local university. This year, B4 uses RFID technology to manage UCC’s security and people flow. By embedding passive EPC Gen 2 RFID tags in personnel badges and installing two RFID access gates, B4 can quickly identify authorized personnel and grant them access to the command center, said Rich MacDonald, one of B4 co-producers.
Command Center for the Boston Independence Day Gala
RFID Global Solution provides the software system Credentials to manage RFID tag phase data. Students in Middlesex Community University’s RFID Technician Training Program helped install the system, providing RFID readers and computers. Video company Fenwick Technologies supplied other computers and a surveillance camera installed at the entrance to the UCC.
UCC reserves at least one seat for each institution present, for a total of 65 seats. The video screen in the command center displays live music and weather information, helicopter data and shooting video. Agency personnel also employ central deployment radios.
Prior to 2008, the command center had no access control, and when a person entered, he or she was identified only by security. In 2008, B4 began to consider the use of RFID solutions to solve the problem of people entering and leaving the command center, “It has become too busy, too many people enter the center, and those who work here can’t find a place to complete their work.
B4 Visit the RFID Technology Center at Middlesex Community University. The school has ongoing partnerships with a number of public safety agencies and RFID Global Solution, said Neil Sheer, associate dean of the school’s engineering and technology department. RFID Global Solution agreed to help build the system and to donate Credentials software, RFID tags and readers.
During the 2008 concert and fireworks display, the partners installed a low-power, UHF EPC Gen 2 RFID reader, linked to a computer, to issue an RFID tag to everyone authorized to enter the center. The system is useful, says Joe Leone, chairman and chief technology officer of RFID Global Solution, but the low-power system acts only as a proximity reader, and the badge has a very short reading distance and must be read close to the reader. If the tag cannot be read, it must be verified, blocking the flow of people behind.
This year, the system underwent a number of revamps – including the use of Middlesex Community College to provide new readers with longer reading distances, and network access to data – to control the flow of people in and out of the center on a B4 server.
When an employee or official receives his pendant, his name and institution are entered into the B4 backend system, corresponding to the RFID tag’s unique ID code. When the individual approaches the gate of the command center and steps on a pressure mat in front of the door, the system is told that someone has entered. The reader then captures the ID code of the badge tag he or she wears around his or her neck.
Activates the reader to the identity of the person when the person steps on a pressure mat in the entrance
This ID code is sent to the back-end system, and the Global RFID Solution software associates the ID code with the person’s name and access rights. If the authorization is sufficient to enter the area, a green light is on to indicate that he can enter. However, if he is not wearing the badge or the tag ID code is not authenticated, a red light will indicate that he is not authorized to enter the area, and a security guard will prevent the person from entering. A second reader installed at the gate attempts to read badge tags that were not recognized by the first reader. When he leaves the room, he will pass through a separate RFID entrance and exit, at which time the ID code will be read again, informing the system that the person is no longer in the control area.
Data is routed through the RFID Global Solution LAN to back-end systems, where authorized users can view the information via the Internet to track anything happening at the command center at any time. This information can also be used for business intelligence, Leone says, to track how often or how often a particular user or agency enters a command center or storage area.
The Fenwick video system is integrated with the RFID system to recognize people’s faces as they enter. The system was tested for about a month before installation.
“Our goal is to build a portable system package,” Leone said. The system package may include an RFID reader, tags and software, and a notebook, allowing the system to be set up in seconds in practical applications such as concerts.
From July 3-4, the system had a total of 6,000 read records.The system can also be configured with alerts if unauthorized behavior occurs, such as when a specific individual has been in the command center for too long or is present in an unauthorized area
The system works very well, and B4 is very pleased with it.
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