PopEye unique value proposition focuses on a) strengthening the security at the external EU borders through fusing robust biometric technologies for verification and identification, b) maximising the travellers’ experience when crossing the external EU borders through unobtrusive on-the-move biometric technologies, c) improving the productivity of Border Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies in performing identification and verification of people on the move and without stopping them, at up to 200m distance, when multiple travellers cross borders, on foot or inside the same vehicle, in different nature e.g. open-air conditions, night, time, time constraints, space constraints, etc. PopEye will introduce novel and robust biometric technologies in the five areas identified by the aforementioned Frontex report combined with gait recognition, in order to maximise the impact and the return on investment in short term. PopEye through the proposed technologies will support both EU and Third Country Nationals (TCN) citizens, will be compliant with existing and upcoming regulations such as GDPR and AI Act, will comply with the Ethics Guidelines on Trustworthy AI (2019), will empower the EU values and fundamental rights, including on data protection and avoid bias and discrimination.

METICOS aims to introduce Big Data Analysis of border control information systems, in order to provide a step-change towards more modern and efficient Smart Border management and towards gaining societal and political acceptance of modern control technologies of EU borders such as “no gate solutions”. It is therefore positioned as an initiative to create a real-time decision-support system with regard to different Smart Border control technologies that empowers two major stakeholder groups within the European border control sector (i.e., travellers and border control authorities & service providers) to ensure user acceptance, secure positive societal impact and maximize border control process efficiency. To this end, the METICOS project will develop a platform that integrates information systems and networks of data sources in order to validate the efficiency and users acceptance of border control technologies. The proposed platform will provide metrics and KPIs to authorities and decision makers, based on a number of independent variables: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, physical privacy, accuracy, information privacy, ethical and societal perceptions. To maximize impact of the project, METICOS will join the European Initiative for Smart Borders and contribute aforementioned cross-border and cross-cultural Big Data Analysis and decision support systems that feature harvesting of multi-lingual and cross-sectorial data from heterogeneous sources, different analytics approaches and risk assessment methods. METICOS will be demonstrated and validated under real operating conditions. This will involve two pilot implementations executed at five different countries involving real travellers and staff. Furthermore, the METICOS ecosystem aims to work closely with border control research initiatives to demonstrate its operational performance improvements by means of combined validation with these solutions.

CONNECTOR’s vision is to contribute to the European Integrated Border Management (EIBM) and to the EU Customs Action Plan by addressing the need of close cooperation between Customs, Border and Coast Guard Authorities within the current and upcoming challenging and demanding environment of borders’ control by further involving Customs to the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) network and Enhanced Common Information Sharing Environment (e-CISE) through the proposed Customs Extended Common Information Sharing Environment (CE-CISE). CONNECTOR aims for the first time to suggest an integrated, common and shared risk assessment approach for all Border Management Authorities, considering the pan-EU common risk indicators per end user group (Customs, Border and Coast Guards Authorities including FRONTEX), to ensure external EU border and secure EU citizens from cross-border crime and/or secure the seamless flow of travellers, as recommended in the multiannual strategic policy document . Thus, in this sense, CONNECTOR proposal, will design and develop the CONNECTOR system as an interoperable technical environment, ensuring close and practical cooperation and information exchange at all levels. The design and the development of the CONNECTOR system will be based on the analysis of current policy initiatives in EU level (directives, policy and staff documents, guidelines etc.) along with needs, gaps and future views of the end-user groups going beyond previous initiatives (ANDROMEDA, MARISA, EFFECTOR, etc.), complying with the Societal, Ethical and Legal (SoEL) requirements and regulations, following the SoEL-by-design principle. The CONNECTOR system will be validated in real operational environment, based on well-defined National, Cross-border and Transnational use cases defined commonly by Customs and Border and Coast Guards authorities, during three (3) long lasting trials (Demonstration and Testing) under standardised methodology.

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 as well as search & rescue applications, and specifically rough terrain detection. The sensor payload will include synthetic aperture radar (SAR), laser detection and ranging (LADAR), shortwave/longwave infrared (SWIR/LWIR) and acoustic cameras for direct target detection, as well as optical and hyperspectral cameras for indirect detection (via vegetation disturbance). The project will use the ground-based infrastructure of border police units (command & control centres), innovative data models (to identify illegal crossing patterns and preferred routes) and advanced audio/video analytics and storage (to provide additional detection capabilities). The technology concepts will be validated in the field by 6 border police units (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus) covering 3 major illegal migration routes into Europe (Eastern Mediterranean, Western Balkan and Eastern Borders Routes), which represent 58% of all illegal border crossings detected and are also the most used for smuggling of drugs, weapons and stolen vehicles. The combined solution will provide high coverage, resolution and revisit time with a lower cost (4 EUR/kg/hr) than satellites and higher endurance (100 kg payload for 12 hours) than drones. Based on the field trial results, the consortium expects to develop a solution that can be deployed further by European border polices after project completion. The project will also involve the contribution of NGOs working with illegal migration and human right protection issues, as well as regulatory experts dealing with the ethics and privacy requirements of border surveillance solutions

Maritime security, including the underwater, is of paramount importance to assure the smooth and safe transportation of goods and people to/from the EU ports, as well as to preserve uninterrupted operations of critical coastal-based/river-based/maritime infrastructures. Ships and maritime infrastructures need to be protected against all illegal acts through a) continuous 24/7 underwater security surveillance against potential intruders divers, hostile underwater vehicles and illicit/dangerous containers towed by ships, b) on-demand ships’ hulls scanning/inspection for the best possible detection/recognition/classification of strapped, attached, hidden or misplaced illicit (i.e. narcotics) and dangerous material, c) underwater inspections of ports’ entrances, seabed and docking places foundation for the best possible detection/recognition/classification of dangerous containers (i.e. CBRNE packages and IEDs) at these places, as well as to apply deterrent and response measures, in order to prevent/deter illicit acts and avoid undesired escalation of security incidents. To that end, the multinational and interdisciplinary UnderSec project team, consisting of experts in the maritime security and underwater security domain, research/academic institutions and technology, and End-Users from the Coast Guard, Borders Control, and Port Authorities sectors, will develop a modular/holistic approach Prototype System, consisting of multimodal sensors and robotic assets, for ships’, ports’ and maritime infrastructures’ Underwater Security Situational Awareness and Decision-Making Support, with relevant Response capabilities. Individual technologies will be tested, compared with each other and pre-evaluated in a controlled environment, while the modular components and the system as a whole will be tested and evaluated during real-life PUCs demonstrations in actual operational environments, resulting in the establishment of new knowledge, innovative solutions and advanced processes.