The Challenge
During the 2015 G20 Antalya Summit, Turkish security authorities needed a reliable real-time facial recognition capability to help protect one of the world’s highest-profile international events. The security operation required continuous monitoring across key arrival points, transportation hubs, critical city locations and the summit’s red zone.
The system needed to support rapid identification of high-risk individuals against a large watchlist database, while operating across a distributed camera network during a mission-critical public security operation.
The Solution
Nevalabs provided Corvo Identify as the facial recognition and real-time alarm generation software layer for the project. The system was deployed across 220 cameras located at Antalya Airport, Antalya Bus Terminal, critical city locations and the G20 red zone.
The project was initially planned for 200 cameras and was expanded to 220 cameras through an additional procurement within the project budget. A 100,000-enrollment Corvo Identify license was used to support watchlist-based monitoring and real-time facial recognition alarms.
Corvo Identify enabled security teams to detect persons of interest from live camera streams and support rapid response during the summit security operation.
“For the mobile facial recognition system project carried out during the 2015 G20 Antalya Summit, we needed a critical system that could be prepared, tested and deployed within a short timeframe for a high-security international event. Following the technical tender process, we worked intensively with the Nevalabs team on detailing the requirements, field testing, preparing test scenarios, defining alarm scenarios, managing watchlists and completing the acceptance processes. The system supported real-time facial recognition and watchlist-based alarm generation at Antalya Airport, Antalya Bus Terminal, critical city locations and the G20 Summit red zone. High recognition accuracy, fast alarm generation, reliable system performance and advanced features aligned with operational security needs were important requirements of the project. As the project responsible officer at the Turkish National Police Counter Terrorism Department, I closely followed the technical and operational aspects of this process. Nevalabs provided strong and fast technical support throughout the project, responded flexibly to field requirements and demonstrated the responsibility required for a critical public security operation such as summit security.”
In addition to real-time facial recognition, the mobile system supported operational features such as bulk enrollment import, watchlist-based alarm generation, pop-up alarm notifications, alarm distribution, alarm verification and user activity audit logs. These capabilities helped authorized teams manage alerts from multiple monitored locations during the summit.
The deployment was shaped through close collaboration with Turkish National Police teams, including intensive pre-event testing, field preparation and feature adaptation before the summit. At the time, the project represented an important early implementation of AI-powered facial recognition technology for high-security international event protection in Türkiye.
Server and camera infrastructure were supplied through separate procurement processes, while Nevalabs delivered the facial recognition software layer.
Technologies Used
The Results
220 Cameras
Monitored camera scope
100,000
Enrollment capacity
Real-Time
Facial recognition alarms
G20 Summit
High-security event deployment
Airport, Bus Terminal, City & Red Zone
Critical locations covered
Mission-Critical
Public security operation
“For the 2015 G20 Antalya Summit, our teams carried out an intensive preparation process to strengthen security across airports, transportation hubs, city locations and restricted summit areas. The facial recognition system was tested and adapted to operational requirements before being deployed for live watchlist-based alerts. Nevalabs’ technology supported this mission and helped demonstrate how advanced recognition systems could contribute to national security and high-profile international event protection.”
Ahmet Sula
Deputy Head of Counter Terrorism Department, Turkish National Police
