UMD-VAST
Venue Access System for Turnstiles

Ticketing Model / Access Control

Tickets are issued to people (eg the public, club members, members’ guests, accredited personnel and others) to provide access to a venue or venues for a particular event or set of events.

Access may be limited to specific areas within a venue. Ingress/egress from an area is via gates which have turnstiles.

Each ticket has a unique machine readable id (eg bar code, magnetic stripe or smart card token) which can be read by turnstiles or other access control devices. The id read by the access control device is sent to the UMD-VAST™ System for verification. The UMD-VAST™ system will know the identity of the turnstile and hence the area that the ticket holder is moving from and to. As well as checking permissions, UMD-VAST™ optionally checks for second entry.

The ticket is typically printed and will provide a human readable visual code that may not be the same as the machine readable id code.

Each ticket has a list of permissions defined by its access class that indicate what areas it can access during specified events at specified venues.

Each ticket also has an optional associated ticket type which is used for reporting purposes.

Computer system requirements

The UMD-VAST™ system can run on any Linux or Sun Solaris 9 (or higher) computer system with sufficient hard disk and computing power for the task at hand.

Turnstile Hardware

UMD-VAST™ is independent of the turnstile hardware. Existing Turnstile and other devices are connected via Unique Micro Design‘s engineering ICT solutions capabilities in hardware interfacing and custom electronic design.

For example, PMSI turnstiles connect with the PC based PMSI Master Turnstile Controller. With the UMD-VAST™ system, the PMSI Master Turnstile Controller is replaced with a custom-programmed protocol converter that connects to UMD-VAST™ via an ethernet network.

This independence allows existing hardware to be used in installations modernised with UMD-VAST™.

Mobile Turnstiles

For mobile applications, a Microsoft® .NET module is provided to allow mobile smart devices to act as turnstiles via a real-time WiFi network.

User Interface

UMD-VAST™ provides a standard multi-user web service for the management interface. This provides a significant advantage over other access control systems – zero client installation with true multi-user capabilities. By using a web interface, it allows a variety of mobile smart devices and mobile phones to access the system remotely.

Three levels of end user access control are provided for security purposes: administrator, operational and viewers.

Events

Events are readily set up by name with date, areas and access controls for the area settings.

Areas

Many areas may be defined to allow for finely tuned access control according to ticket access class.

External ticketing application interfaces

UMD-VAST™ interfaces with external ticketing systems including membership and accreditation systems via import/export files. This allows member attendance to be recorded, for example for loyalty rewards purposes. This module will by necessity need to be customised to suit the individual requirements of a venue.

UMD-VAST™ also supports real-time data interchange with external applications using Application Program Interfaces (API) based on light-weight HTTP web services.

Replacing tickets

UMD-VAST™ can re-issue, and void, lost or stolen tickets in real-time with the access rights of any replaced ticket being transferred to the newly issued ticket, providing rapid customer service at the venue during the event.

The real-time tracking of ticket holders throughout a venue proves invaluable to second entry dispute resolutions.

Reports

A variety of real-time and batch reports are provided. Real-time reports, for example, allow management to accurately determine the occupancy of areas during an event and attendance by ticket type.

Searching by ticket holder name can be performed in real-time (where names have been associated with a ticket).

Batch reports enable post event analysis, eg occupancy graph by time. Data can be readily exported for detailed analysis by external software packages.

Other features

UMD-VAST™ provides other features such as audit logs, real-time back up of databases to enable disaster recovery procedures and remote administration and support.

The design of UMD-VAST™ means that it is inherently flexible and readily customised to enable to growth with a venue’s requirements.

“the celebration that stops a nation”™

The first generation system was used for access control at the Victorian Racing Club’s Melbourne Cup Carnival in 2006, www.vrc.net.au, which was their most successful carnival on record. The experience gained from this prestigious international event has been folded into the second generation of UMD-VAST™.