Flexible and Improved Border-Crossing Experience for Passengers and Authorities
Duration: 01/09/2022 – 31/08/2025
Total Funding: € 5,019,000
Overview
The growth of freight and passenger transport in the EU, driven by rising trade and the TEN-T vision, brings financial and societal benefits but also poses major challenges. Increased cross-border movement of people and goods strains customs and security systems. Human trafficking and smuggling are expected to worsen, necessitating more efficient and secure border procedures. This requires legal reforms and technological upgrades, using innovative technologies such as 5G and Internet of Things, AI and Machine Learning, Big Data and Predictive Analytics, Cloud and Edge Computing etc, to improve verification processes, enhance security, and streamline checks. However, this will require continued investment and coordination to effectively manage growing transport demands.
FLEXI-cross will deploy innovative border-checking solutions in real operational environments to enhance the security and reliability of border checks for both people and goods, while improving the overall capabilities of border management. The system will enable flexible planning, including mobile support for personnel and dynamic deployment of check-points, all while safeguarding data privacy and fundamental rights. Key features will include predictive risk assessment, portable biometric verification, secure blockchain-based data exchange, optimised border operations through real-time data analysis, and improved safety and awareness for border staff via advanced interfaces and AR tools.
Objectives
Design and develop mobile, cost-effective and efficient solutions that will significantly upgrade the operational capacity of EU Border Check Points and introduce flexible planning and check-point deployment procedures leading to a seamless border crossing experience for travellers, operators and staff of border authorities.
Increase security, reliability and privacy during cross-border checks for both passengers and cargo, by providing advanced anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling mechanisms, while securing and protecting people’s fundamental rights and personal data, through a comprehensive data governance framework.
Set up three state-of-the-art border-crossing facilities based on real operational EU border environments, by upgrading existing infrastructure and legacy systems from consortium partners and previous EU-funded projects to support the thorough testing of the use cases in road, port and rail environments.
Validate the FLEXI-cross solutions in real-life EU border-crossing environments using real end-user data that will showcase the maturity and business readiness of the solutions (TRL≥7), demonstrating the superior performance in terms of traffic handling capacity, waiting times, security and privacy.
To accelerate the adoption of the proposed dynamic, flexible and mobile technological solutions by the EU border authorities, and to maximise the resulting impact on daily border management and operations, in close liaison with existing projects and initiatives.
eBOS Role in the Project
eBOS will leverage its extensive experience to contribute to the delivery of the state-of-the-art toolkit, by focusing on the design and implementation of the Human Machine Interface (HMI), and the Toolkit integration and testing. In particular, eBOS will adopt an iterative integration methodology to ensure collaborative technical integration work, putting together the FLEXI-cross system components in a loosely coupled way towards ensuring interoperability, adequate performance, and scalability for large-scale use during the project and beyond. eBOS will design and implement the graphical HMI, by leveraging eBOS bespoke WiseBOS Platform, which is specialised for the development of dashboards.
In addition to its technical role, eBOS will lead the impact maximisation activities that aim to widely disseminate and communicate the project’s achievements and research results, through its network of associations. Finally, eBOS will identify and monitor IPR activities during the project execution.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
