Network & collaboration

robusT Risk basEd Screening and alert System for PASSengers and luggage

TRESSPASS is a European research project in the H2020 framework and Border and External Security thematic area, receiving EU funding under GA 787120. The overall scope of TRESSPASS is to modernize the way the security checks at border crossing points (BCPs) are held out at land, air and sea. TRESSPASS imports the concept of “risk-based” security checks and proposes an analytic framework for modelling risk as well as a systematic approach of quantifying risk, based on a set of indicators ranging from real-time behaviour analytics to intelligent information extraction and sharing that can accurately be measured across all four tiers of the EU Integrated Border Management:

1) measures undertaken in, or jointly with third countries or service providers;

2) cooperation with neighbouring countries;

3) border control and counter-smuggling measures; and

4) control measures within the area of free movement.

Migration-Related Risks Caused by Misconceptions of Opportunities and Requirement

MIRROR aims to develop an integrated platform, a set of tools, as well as a systematic methodology for the comprehensive inter-media analysis of the perception of Europe, the detection of discrepancies between perception of and reality in Europe, and the creation of awareness for the impact of such misconceptions.

The multidisciplinary consortium consists of fourteen partners from seven countries from research and industry, as well as practitioners. The consortium will cooperate to gain a better understanding of how Europe is perceived abroad and the mechanisms involved in the process. The MIRROR Project was launched in June 2019 and has a time period of three years.

IT tools and methods for managing migration FLOWS

ITFLOWS will generate novel insights on migration. The purpose of ITFLOWS is to provide accurate predictions and adequate management solutions of migration flows in the European Union in the phases of reception, relocation, settlement and integration of migration, according to a wide range of human factors and using multiple sources of information. These insights will be provided by an evidence-based ICT enabled solution (the EUMigraTool) and precise models. All solutions will have fitness for purpose continually validated by policy-makers and practitioners in cooperation with civil-society organisations in a dynamic and iterative process.

ITFLOWS will propose tailor-made solutions for practitioners and policy makers for managing migration. On the one hand, the EUMigraTool targets first-line-practitioners, second-level reception organisations and municipalities. It will provide modular solutions based on the prediction of migration flows and the identification of risks of tensions between migrants and EU citizens. On the other hand, an in-depth analysis on drivers, patterns and choices of migration as well as public sentiment towards migration will lead to the drafting of adequate recommendations and good practices for policy makers, governments and EU institutions.

Privacy, ethical, regulatory and social no-gate crossing point solutions acceptance

Funded by the European Commission, PERSONA project has been brought into being in order to come up with a unified and tailored Impact Assessment Method for No-Gate Crossing Point Solutions capable of appropriately evaluating border controlling technologies and of ensuring that these solutions meet the requirements and expectations of governments, LEAS, and border crossing individuals.

An End to end Interoperability Framework For MaritimE Situational Awareness at StrategiC and TacTical OpeRations

EFFECTOR aims to enhance maritime surveillance, improve decisions support, and foster collaboration of maritime stakeholders by implementing an Interoperability Framework and associated Data Fusion and Analytics services for Maritime Surveillance and Border Security that will allow faster detection of new events, better informed decision making, achievement of a joint understanding and undertaking of a situation across borders, allowing seamless cooperation between operating authorities and on-site intervention forces ensuring that all existing privacy and data protection rules are fully respected.

Specifically, EFFECTOR will unlock the full capabilities of maritime surveillance systems and data sharing at tactical and strategic level by introducing applied solutions for enhanced border and external security, including the implementation of a multilayered data lake platform for end-to-end interoperability and data exploitation, the exchange of enhanced situational awareness pictures at different level with CISE and EUROSUR, the adoption of interoperability standards for exploiting data sources and systems currently underutilized in maritime environment and the demonstration of new concepts and tools for knowledge extraction, semantic representation, data fusion, analytics, and federated querying that can scale from local to regional and up to national and transnational level.

Detecting Document frauD and iDentity on the fly

The overall D4FLY concept is to identify, reduce and avoid vulnerabilities in the identity lifecycle of modern border management, thereby strengthening European Smart Borders against serious and organized crime. It does this by exploring, developing and validating new technologies for identity and document verification – including biometrics-on-the-fly, and even explores how this could work in risk-based border management concepts.

The D4FLY project will augment the current capabilities and capacities of border authorities in countering emerging threats in document and identity verification (e.g., forged documents, impostor fraud, morphed faces) at manual and highly automated border control points and in the issuance process of genuine documents.

Semi-autonomous border surveillance platform combining next generation unmanned aerial vehicles with ultra-high-resolution multi-sensor surveillance payload

Nineteen (19) organizations from twelve (12) European countries joined forces for a new project on technologies which enhance border and external security. The project will combine for the first time a multi-role lighter-than-air (LTA) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with an ultra-high resolution multi-sensor surveillance payload supporting border surveillance, search & rescue applications and specifically rough terrain detection.

image Manipulation Attack Resolving Solutions

The verification of travel documents’ authenticity is key to border checks and forensic investigations. However, the growing complexity of document security and border control pressures often make it impossible to confirm whether documents are genuine or counterfeited. The EU-funded iMARS project aims to provide image morphing and manipulation attack detection solutions for the evaluation of ID document authenticity, ID document verification and fraud detection. iMARS will deliver mobile tools to check document integrity. The technology will be assessed from an ethical, legal and societal perspective, and validated in real border control conditions. iMARS will support standardisation of these solutions and of their evaluation protocols, and will provide training, guidelines and best practices to border guards, document investigators and passport application officers.

Autonomous swarm of heterogeneous RObots for BORDER surveillance

ROBORDER aims at developing and demonstrating a fully-functional autonomous border surveillance system with unmanned mobile robots including aerial, water surface, underwater and ground vehicles which will incorporate multimodal sensors as part of an interoperable network. The project intents to implement a heterogenous robot system and enhance it with detection capabilities for early identification of criminal activities at border and coastal areas along with marine pollution events.