How to buy e-Passport readers: 12 key facts!

e-Passport reading technology is relatively new to the world, and as is often the case with “immature” technologies, it can be difficult to differentiate between the competing claims of rival manufacturers.

Here are 12 key issues which, we suggest, might form the basis of the initial questions which any potential customer might wish to ask. We don’t pretend that this is a definitive list – most customers will have specific requirements relevant to their particular circumstances – but it is a start.

1. Ease of use

e-Passport readers must be simple, quick and intuitive to use. It must be very easy to place a document onto the reader and should require little or no operator training. Readers which require very precise placement of documents are best avoided. Active Video document detection greatly increases ease of use. Active Video technology means that the document will be read however it is placed in the scanning window – regardless of its orientation, and at any angle. It makes the whole process of reading passports faster, easier, and more efficient – critical when passenger numbers are increasing year on year.

2. Single-handed operation

One handed operation, without the need to lift flaps or covers is vital. Furthermore, latest generation passport readers hold the document in place during reading leaving the operator with both hands free for other tasks. This will become increasingly important in the coming years as the chips in e-Passports are used to store more and more data such as biometric images and chip reading times increase as a result.

3. Read BAC e-Passports in a single operation

Many countries plan to issue e-Passports using the Basic Access Control (BAC) security method to prevent eavesdropping. This requires that the optical codeline on the e-Passport should be read first and used to construct the digital key which is used to “unlock” the RF chip. Some readers require the operator to swipe the document to read the optical codeline, and then to place it on a separate RF reader to read the chip data. Readers which perform these two processes as a single operation are faster, more efficient and far easier to use.

4. Read e-Passports and older passports

Although e-Passports will soon be issued in large numbers, millions of older passports without RF chips will remain in circulation for many years. An e-Passport reader must also handle these older passports without the operator needing to know whether a passport contains a chip or not. The process must be completely automatic.

5. Moving parts and hinged flaps

The best modern passport readers have no moving parts, and no hinged flaps. Over time, moving parts will suffer stress, possible fractures, and will be a likely point of failure. Their accurate and correct use depends on the mood, workload, stress levels, professionalism, and behaviour pattern of operators, and given human nature, this is unlikely to be uniformly calm over a period of time. Constant movement, particularly opening and closing, will affect durability and longevity.

6. Interoperability

By their very nature, passports are issued by different countries, using different materials and different equipment, yet they must be functional across international borders. This means that passport readers need to be able to cope with a wide range of documents. Proven interoperability is a critical issue; investing in technology which fails to read commonly used passports would be a problem for the immigration service concerned, as well as travellers from the countries whose passports could not be read.

7. Footprint

Immigration counters are necessarily small, and as increasing technology is required in border security, they are becoming more and more cluttered. Modern passport readers have a very small ‘footprint’ (i.e. the amount of space taken up on the desk). Typically, a good, modern passport reader will take up no more than 0.5 sq ft.

8. Reduced component count

Manufacturers of premium-quality passport readers are constantly striving to reduce component count and assembly time, by using materials technology such as injection moulding. The initial tooling costs may be high, but they are usually amortised over significant volumes, so that the unit cost for the customer will usually be lower. Reducing the number of components makes assembly faster, easier, and more cost-effective. It also increases the lifetime, durability and reliability of the unit and reduces its vulnerability to abuse or careless operation.

9. Metal case

In the early days of e-Passport readers, it was difficult to use metal cases because of the risk of disruption to the RF signal, but these problems have long since been resolved by the leading manufacturers. The use of a metal case makes the unit more durable and rugged.

10. Reference customers

e-Passport reading is not a mature market, and there have been rapid technical advances in the past two years. “Reference” customers are those lead nations which have applied their resources, in-house experts, and technical skills to putting this new technology through the most rigorous testing. (Up to 60 of the world’s major governments are currently devoting considerable resources to this area).

A little bit of research can quickly establish which e-Passport readers are being bought by which governments.

It is quite reasonable to assume that the passport readers that have been bought by these lead nations will have undergone diligent pre-purchase testing and examination. The readers will have been bought on merit – if these governments have not bought a particular model, it will usually be because they believe that a rival product is better.

11. Installed user base

In addition to the credibility of the customers, the sheer number of readers which a company has managed to sell will also tell you something. Critical mass in a market tends to be a cost-down driver, and the adage that large numbers of customers can’t be wrong does have some validity. If a company has no installed base, or a very small one, do you really want to be one of its guinea pigs? If it has a large installed base, and has suffered major technical failure or other problems, the likelihood is that you’ll know about it. If you haven’t heard jungle drums about such difficulties, the probability is that there haven’t been any.

12. Regular shape

It sounds trivial, but it’s not. A regular shape helps to keep a cluttered immigration desk tidy, and given that most immigration desks are tiny, that is important. A regular shape is not challenging to achieve, and it is a mystery as to why some passport readers are produced in irregular, awkward shapes – but they are!