Specific emitter identification for enhanced access control security

This paper presents the application of specific emitter identification (SEI) to access control and points out the security caveats of current radio-based access remotes. Specifically, SEI is applied to radio frequency (RF) access remotes used to open and close motorised gates in residential housing complexes for the purposes of access control. A proof-of-concept SEI system was developed to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish between the RF signals produced by two nominally-identical access remotes. It was determined that it is possible to distinguish between the remotes with an accuracy of 98%.