KOCHI: Every centimetre of the Cochin International Airport, including various vital points on its premises, will be under close watch with the authorities installing 3,500 high-definition (HD) cameras in and around the airport.Besides, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) also set up an ‘advanced security operations control centre’ at an estimated `33 crore to enhance the security apparatus at the airport. CIAL managing director V J Kurian inaugurated the control centre on Wednesday and handed it over to the Central Industrial Security Force which will man it.
The new security system will provide cm-level resolution allowing authorities to spot even minute objects at the airport round-the-clock. The control centre covers vital spots like the three terminals, runway, apron and airport premises.
The HD cameras are of 1920x1080 resolution and have been deployed to act as manpower multipliers. The security control centre can store 6.5 petabytes (10 lakh gigabytes) of data and is one of the largest in the country. It has 30 days of primary storage and seven days of redundancy mechanism, said airport officers.
CIAL’s IT and Communication Department executed the project with contract patron HoneyWell. Around 300 km of data cables and 125 km of optical fibre cable were laid to connect the cameras with the control centre.
The Cochin Airport witnesses the largest movement of passengers and aircraft in the state.
It registered a footfall of over 89 lakh passengers and 62,827 aircraft movements last year, thereby maintaining its position as the fourth largest international airport in terms of international passenger handling and seventh largest in terms of total passenger handling in the country.