9:00am – 10:30amTucson Border Technology Advances: Meeting the Challenge of the Border – Border TEC at the UA Tech Park

The primary challenge of the U.S.-Mexico border is securing it while facilitating legitimate trade and commerce, and this session will address this through discussing various modern technology solutions. The UA Tech Park through its Border TEC program is helping to identify, evaluate, test and deploy new border security technologies developed by companies, universities and governments.

What will be covered?

• Overview of the Border TEC Program at the UA Tech Park
• Discussion of the importance of identifying, testing and deploying new border technologies
• Efforts to develop a border technology industry cluster in Southern Arizona

How will you benefit?

• Discover a new model to bring industry, government and academia together to address a major national issue

Session Leader:

Bruce A. Wright
Associate Vice President for University Research Parks
The University of Arizona

10:30am – 12:00pmEssential Info on Emerging Technology: Communications as Infrastructure, Technology, and Staff Force Multiplier in Trade and Tourism Facilitation and Border Security Operations

A recent study analyzed the effectiveness of the various border security technologies to find the most crucial elements. NACTS surveyed border security professionals, security specialists, law enforcement officers, members of academia and technology experts. They compiled a comprehensive list of vital border security technologies ranging from surveillance cameras to radio repeaters and portable fingerprint scanners to compare them.

NACTS also designed a system dynamics model to analyze these tools’ effectiveness and overlay them at the points of interest at the border. After over 40 interviews, a collection of technologies known as Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) was found to be the strongest force multiplier along the border. It allows for efficient communication and intelligence sharing between agencies, more cost-effective operations, stronger operational control of the border, and increased productivity of personnel, infrastructure and technologies.

What will be covered?

• Technology to enhance border security and international trade: The nation has invested in staffing, infrastructure, and technology to control contraband flowing across the land border and at ports
• Which technology has worked and what needs to be invested in next

How will you benefit?

• Discover how your organization fits into the overall infrastructure of the recommended findings
• Learn how the findings can result in a more comprehensive collection of intelligence gathering technologies creating a force multiplier ‘

Session Leader:

D. Rick Van Schoik
Director, North American Center for Transborder Studies
Arizona State University

1:00pm – 2:30pmNew Tech from the University Of Arizona: AVATAR for Credibility Assessment in Border Management Environments

This presentation will discuss the improved effectiveness and efficiency of credibility assessment in the border environment through the use of AVATAR kiosks. Automated agents (AVATARs) can assist border management officials by automating credibility screening processes and freeing personnel to focus on mission-critical tasks. Because AVATAR kiosks can be replicated, they function as force multipliers to alleviate the traffic load on officers and improve their decision-making. As operational demands increase, the current model of one officer/agent conducting one interview at a time is unsustainable.

What will be covered?

• How the kiosks conduct interviews provide real-time feedback to officers using AVATAR’s sensor data
• Officers’ ability with this technology to monitor 4-8 AVATAR kiosk stations simultaneously
• How AVATAR provides an effective solution through its ability (unlike humans) to perform multiple interviews with the equal levels of vigilance each time.
• AVATAR’s ability to detect cues of deception and malicious intent that are not perceptible to human senses

How will you benefit?

• Discover how cutting edge advancements in non-invasive next-generation polygraph technologies can be used to enhance border management
• Learn how these techniques can expedite border crossing by segmenting high-risk and low-risk populations
• Understand how credibility assessment cues (linguistics, vocalics, kinesics, psychophysiological, etc.) can provide decision support to officers and agents.
• Learn how AVATAR kiosks can be customized for a variety of credibility assessment settings.

Session Leaders:

2:30pm – 4:00pmBiometrics Advances: Use of Mobile Biometric Identification Technologies in Homeland Security 1st Responder Law Enforcement Operations

Mobile Biometric Identification Technologies are being used by a number of federal, state and local jurisdictions. This presentation will discuss the future use of advanced mobile identification technologies based on pilot projects sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate/Human Factors Division and managed by Sandia National Laboratories.

What will be covered?

• Lessons learned in the design and implementation of mobile biometric device pilot testing
• Benefits to 1st Responder Law enforcement operations and investigations
• Biometric modalities and the shape of future operational environments

How will you benefit?

• Learn about recent operational experiences using advanced mobile biometric devices
• Better understand the potential and challenges for wider use of mobile identification technologies

Session Leader:

Chris Aldridge
Principal Member Technical Staff, Systems Research and Analysis Department
Sandia National Laboratories