Aerial View of MSP International As the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) International Airport grows, so does its security. The seventh busiest airport in the country, MSP is operated by the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). MAC's goals are continued expansion of the facility to increase capacity by 25% and to provide a safe and secure airport, says Commander Gordon B. Longton, Security Division, MSP Airports Commission-Airport Police Department. Longton, who heads security at the 3,300-acre-site, says a multi-year security expansion centers on integrated closed circuit television (CCTV) and will continue into 2003. "Airport policing is a bit unique," Commander Longton says. "Our population is constantly in flux. There is a need to ensure that the public feels safe and secure traveling through the airport. It is our challenge to deploy our human and technological resources in a manner that ensures them the highest level of safety possible." (MAC employs the full-time police force responsible for safety and security at the airport.) The airport itself is in a constant state of flux as expansions and upgrades continue. The airport is in the midst of a $2.4 billion expansion program that encompasses a series of improvements involving the airfield, the Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals, airport access and parking facilities. MSP has 77 jet loading gates, three runways (with a fourth being added in 2003), 11,000 parking spaces (with an additional 6,500 slated), and a foreign trade zone. It's all part of MSP 2010: Building a Better Airport, MAC's long-term renovation program. (See related box on these pages for airport facts.)

Building Blocks of Security

Jet Loading Gates A sophisticated, comprehensive CCTV camera system with access control and full perimeter and interior detection is the nucleus of electronic security at MSP. What started in 1992 as access control with little more than a dozen black and white cameras has blossomed into a system with color cameras, multiplexing capabilities and computer-based alarm detection functions. In 1994, a group in the police department proposed a multi-phase expansion of CCTV coverage and got their wish. The first expansion was approved in 1996. Parking facilities are integral to the airport's plan for state-of-the-art security. "In the course of our improvements at MSP, additional parking ramps were planned, " Longton said. "We took this opportunity to include the philosophy that we should be building those lots based on general ramp security guidelines adopted by nearly every major city in the country. As a result, we installed more than 200 cameras with the project. A project this year will retrofit existing ramps with another 175 or more cameras; another possible 10,000 car ramp is being planned for construction next summer." Responsible for the massive, multi-year retrofit project is Minneapolis based Pro-Tec Design Inc. Tom Hagen, co-owner and security system designer, says it is one of the largest integrated projects his company has installed and serviced.

According to Hagen, highlights include:

• Three separate Vicon Industries microprocessor Matrix systems process video for airport police and security, Federal Inspection Services (FIS) and Airport Flight Information Processing. Those include a Matrix 44 System; Matrix 66 Crosspoint Matrix Switcher and a V1300 Remote Matrix System, with six additional remote matrix system installations. Other Vicon components include V1300X-DVC Intelligent System Consoles and four graphically configured personal computers (GUIs) with full CCTV alarm mapping capability.

• The CCTV system for the newly expanded parking ramp is designed using the advanced architecture of Vicon Industries V1300-Remote Matrix switchers operating on a fiber optic infrastructure being developed throughout the entire airport campus.

• There are more than 450 cameras and six distributed remote matrix switchers in the system serving several viewing and recording stations. The system is designed to support expansion of up to 700+ cameras in the next few years.

• Individual cameras are cabled to the nearest matrix switcher in the system. Each of these distributed remote matrix switchers is connected via fiber to the central head-end where the main system CPU resides.

• Camera control, camera recording and monitor displays of camera views are set up in two ways. In one scenario, there is local control of the cameras connected to an individual remote matrix switcher. In the other, there is the ability for centralized control of any camera and display/recording of any camera view throughout the entire system.

• The system receives inputs via RS232 data signal interfaces from a Call for Assistance intercom system (at the parking facilities and other areas) and from an access control system. These data signals automatically display the nearest camera view of the situation on an alarm monitor and simultaneously activate a real-time event recorder. Recorded events may range from a call for assistance to locate a vehicle in a parking ramp, to a duress alarm calling for immediate police response to a critical situation.

• A graphical user interface is also a key component of the system. This feature displays cameras as icons (designated as fixed or pan-tilt-zoom cameras) on maps of the facility on computer monitor displays. The GUI is interactive with the CCTV system. This enables an operator to simply point and click on a camera icon for camera view selection. All pan-tilt-zoom functions may be performed using the same point and click method. This enables individuals to readily and quickly learn how to call up cameras without the need to maintain and refer to a long cross-reference list of camera numbers and locations. As a bonus, new personnel are able to become proficient in operation of a sophisticated CCTV system in a fraction of the time that is normally required in systems without this capability.

One of the many surveillance cameras at MSP Integral to the system is the ability for it to execute "macros" or a series of events, says Chris Helin, executive account manager for Vicon Industries in Minneapolis. "For example, in the Federal Inspection Services area alarm detection is tied into each door to the jetways. If there is an exception or alarm in these secured entrances the system automatically calls up the appropriate camera, " he says. A visual map of the alarm area allows police or operator personnel to "point and click on" the specific camera with the computer mouse. After the macro is executed, the signal is routed to a specified 16-channel digital video multiplexer for recording. Longton says that as the expansion has progressed, the department has to face the reality that it cannot watch everything at an airport at all times. But that doesn't mean a sacrifice in security. "All of our cameras can be viewed at our Public Safety Answering Point (911 dispatch center) and at three separate locations in our police facilities. With the parking expansion project, we created what we call the Systems Control Center (SCC), which is staffed 24 hours a day by a guard service employed by the parking lot management company. Working closely with the MAC landside operations department, we developed a concept that the parking ramps should be monitored full time. This was seen as a customer service necessity since we envisioned that 99% of the duties there should be providing customers with general information and assistance available through blue-light intercoms stations located throughout the ramps." When's it all scheduled for completion? So far, there's no set date, especially if the airport operations continue to expand. And, as the facility grows so will its deployment of integrated CCTV surveillance, access control and alarm detection. -By Deborah L. O'Mara, contributing writer.

Airport Stats at a Glance

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport consists of the Lindbergh and Humphrey (remote) terminals, airport access, parking facilities and the airfield itself. Here are other "fast facts" about this major hub.

MSP Airport accommodates nearly 35 million passengers annually, with volume expected to reach 40 million by 2010.

It is served by 12 major U.S. passenger airlines, four international carriers, two regional commercial airlines, six charter airlines and 19 cargo carriers.

Nearly 25,000 people are employed at the airport and it generates more than $100 million in annual operating revenue.

The Federal Inspection Services Facility at the Lindberg Terminal can process 800 people per hour.

In 1999, approximately 3.35 million patrons used the airport parking facilities.

Security at a Glance

It's complex and multi-faceted, but here are highlights of physical and electronic security at the airport.

Hundreds of high-resolution color CCD and DSP cameras keep watch throughout the 3000-plus acre site. Software in Vicon microprocessor distributed matrix switchers allows for remote recording and viewing capabilities via fiber optics and the ability to feed those remote signals back to a central command center or other main control area for instant viewing. Every camera is accessible through monitors or computers with maps and graphical user interfaces.