“What an awesome feat of engineering!” When the four gates of the electronic border control system in C Concourse of Frankfurt's Terminal 1 went into operation in October, Oliver Semling's elation was not due solely to Magnetic Autocontrol having played a leading role in their development, and he as Sales Manager being responsible for the project. It was rather a case of his being genuinely stunned by success, since just one busy year had gone by between project kickoff and the official opening of the so-called eGates – yet everything went like clockwork as August Hanning, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, cut the ribbon before a large group of onlookers from the press, the German Federal Office for Information Security and the German Federal Police.

While the IT security provider secunet Security Networks AG and the biometrics specialist L-1 Identity Solutions AG designed the ‘brain’ of the system (software and biometric verification), Magnetic Autocontrol created its ‘body’. The traveler places his or her passport on an electronic scanner at the entry to the gate. If the passport is genuine, the entrance door opens to admit the traveler to the screening area. A camera then captures a frontal image of the person's face and compares it with the data in the passport. If the biometric data agree with the passport, the exit door opens and the traveler can proceed.

Schopfheim's engineering contribution was not restricted to an aesthetic design that successfully blends into the ambience of the terminal, but can also be judged by practical ergonomics in daily use. In Oliver Semling's words: “Putting into effect the widely differing requirements set out by all involved in the project, including the Federal Police as user, represented a major test, which has been passed with flying colors. Magnetic's ingenuity and wealth of experience in drive systems and process control were prerequisite to meeting this challenge.”

This pilot project, dubbed easyPASS for obvious reasons, will be tested at Frankfurt until next March. If the results continue to be positive, the eGates will also be installed in other concourses at this airport. And Munich Airport is already waiting ‘in the wings’.