DHS to Begin E-Passport Testing at San Francisco

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin live testing of electronic passports that contain biographic and biometric information on January 15 at San Francisco.

The test, which is meant to assess the operational effects of new equipment and software that reads and verifies the information embedded in the e-passports, is a collaborative effort between Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the U.S.  It will run through April 15, 2006.

E-passports contain a holder's biographic information and a biometric identifier – in this case a digital photograph - embedded in a "contactless chip set."  

An antenna coil embedded in the e-passport's back cover reacts to the stimulation of a RF (radio frequency) field from the passport reader, causing it to activate the chip set which then communicates with the reader over the same RF link.

The e-Passports being tested will have a BAC (basic access control) security feature, which helps prevent the unauthorized reading, or "skimming," of their information.

Participants in the test include citizens of Australia and New Zealand, Singapore Airlines crew and officials, and U.S. diplomatic officials.  Besides San Francisco, Singapore's Changi Airport and Sydney will have international entry points that will test the new documents.

This is the second live test conducted between Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.  According to the DHS, both evaluations are gathering information that will support the development and implementation of e-passports that comply with ICAO standards, and provide valuable information on reader technology capabilities.  01-13-2005.

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