Testing & Evaluation

Safe Skies can apply a number of different testing methods, depending on the location and information required.

Airport Assessments  

  • ASSIST: Safe Skies collaborates with individual airports to address their specific security needs. Together, we identify candidate systems, and then coordinate with suppliers to temporarily install and test the systems at the actual sites where they may be deployed. This type of assessment is used to help airports decide whether a technology is suitable for procurement. The testing process is outlined here: ASSIST Host Airport Testing Process.
  • POST: Safe Skies conducts long-term evaluations of airport owned equipment to track and document a device or system's performance continuously over its lifecycle. POST is designed to identify functional deficiencies, degradation, and/ or systemic component malfunction prior to system failure in airport-owned security technologies. This information can be used to help airports identify potential problems, current issues, and better define replacement cycles. 

 

Perimeter Test Facility

Safe Skies' Perimeter Test Facility (PTF) is a unique site designed specifically for installing and evaluating perimeter intrusion detection devices in an airport environment. Key amenities include:

  • Open field of rolling terrain to install and test buried, volumetric, and camera systems
  • Multiple types of fence material to install and test fence-mounted devices
  • Weather and sound stations to record minute-to-minute local conditions
  • 24/7 video surveillance with network video recording and infrared illumination for low-light conditions
  • Adjacent to a commercial airport to provide the unique challenges of an airport environment without the operational impacts of on-site testing

For each device tested, Safe Skies provides:

  • An intensive 9-month, all-season evaluation in an airport environment
  • Rigorous intrusion detection performance and environmental exposure testing
  • Validated results submitted directly to airport and government security administrators

 

Pre-Operational Test Facility

 Safe Skies tests security equipment or systems in a simulated operational environment, to demonstrate its suitability for use. We typically conduct this type of assessment in our own facilities. Safe Skies' Pre-Operational Test Facility is a 1,800-square-foot indoor environment that is outfitted to stage and observe technologies without the limitations of actual deployment. The facility’s space and infrastructure, combined with the freedom of a private site, provide possibilities for testing almost any type of technology. Past evaluations conducted at the Pre-Op have included:

  • Comparisons of various system configurations and layouts
  • Continuous throughput assessments for system optimization