Virtual fencing may be reality at IGI soon

NEW DELHI: You might have seen it only in James Bond or Mission: Impossible movies, but

virtual fencing

may become a reality at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Senior security officers say that the plan was only in the pre-conceptual stage, but had already been mentioned a few times in the meetings of security agencies that review the airport’s safety.

Senior officers said that the system would employ technology that produced invisible laser rays, which if touched or trespassed, would set off an alarm. “Such a device will be controlled from the Airport Operation Control Centre. If installed, it will provide a second layer of security to the airport’s perimeter. It can be laid parallel to the existing Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS),” a security officer said.

According to sources, the system, once installed, would be the best way to secure the perimeters of the airside, or areas accessible to aircraft, and keep them intrusion free — important in the light of a fourth runway being planned with the consequent expansion of critical portions of the airside into the heavily cluttered settlements of

Mehram Nagar

and Shahbad Mohammadpur.

The officer, however, added that the system was still in the pre-conceptual stage but has been discussed a few times in the wake of the attack on Istanbul airport, where the intruders had managed to breach the airside. Authorities are yet to ascertain the capability and efficiency of such a system in terms of Delhi airport.

Once in use, officials said, it might also be used at the terminals to keep unauthorised entrants away from sensitive areas.

At present the

IGI

’s perimeter is secured by PIDS, a multi-layer security set-up developed four years ago in accordance with guidelines laid down by the

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security

. It involves around 200 CCTV cameras, radars, more than 35 watchtowers and a patrolling track along the 25km perimeter wall of the airport.

Though the Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for IGIA’s security, was to have taken control of PIDS after its installation from the airport operator, it has been reluctant to do so, claiming that the system developed snags and generated false alarms regularly.