Snag hits O'Hare Airport camera network

May 2, 2006 2:56 PM

Cameras and electronic fences that secure Chicago's O'Hare Airport have been malfunctioning, leaving portions of the airport potentially vulnerable, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
A corrupted data file triggered the software problem impacting the 1,000-camera network that feeds video images to the O'Hare Communications Center in the basement of O'Hare's indoor parking garage.
The center is the airport equivalent of Chicago's 9-1-1 center, complete with dispatchers seated at video consoles. Cameras monitor all access control doors leading to secured, backstage areas of the airport and to the airfield, the newspaper reports.
Whenever a door alarm goes off, video is supposed to be sent automatically to a dispatcher's console, pinpointing the location of the breach.
The so-called "automatic trigger" feature was interrupted nearly two weeks ago, when the data file was corrupted, according to Andrew Velasquez, executive director of the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
"Instead of using the auto trigger, the operator simply has to dial up the video manually. That can be done instantaneously when the alarm goes off and the signal is sent. It's a simple point-and-click function," Velasquez said. "The video can still be viewed within seconds."
The software problem was repaired late last week, Velasquez said, adding, "Throughout this entire [period], the alarms and video were both healthy."
However, employees who work in the O'Hare Operations Center say the 15-year-old camera system is still malfunctioning -- and that the problem goes beyond the automatic trigger.
"There's a serious, airport-wide problem with the cameras," the Sun-Times quotes an anonymous source as saying.
For at least a week, dispatchers had no video on their consoles, according to an employee who works at the O'Hare Operations Center. Even after the temporary fix, the system is not working properly, the employee said.
The problem with the $18 million electronic fence that secures O'Hare's perimeter stems from Mayor Richard Daley's massive airport expansion project.
Although the fence was installed just three years ago, a 112-foot portion on the northwest side of the airport was removed last week and replaced with a 12-foot-high chain-link fence to make way for construction of a new runway, according to Aviation Department spokeswoman Wendy Abrams.
During the process of removing the fence, a contractor reportedly hit an electrical line, knocking out power to a much larger portion of the electronic fence, said a source familiar with the problem.
Read the complete version of the article at www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hare24.html.

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