A mathematical framework for sequential passenger and baggage screening to enhance aviation security

Abstract

To enhance security at both national and global levels, airport security screening systems must be designed with high efficiency and effectiveness, which are affected by both screening technologies and operational procedures for utilizing those technologies. The operational efficiency and aviation security can be enhanced if an effective passenger prescreening system is integrated into the baggage screening system. In this paper, passenger information is incorporated into a two-level checked-baggage screening system to determine the screening strategy for different subsets of passengers. By deploying a passenger prescreening system, this paper considers selectively applying baggage screening procedures for 100% screening. Since new image-based screening technologies differ widely in cost and accuracy, a comprehensive mathematical framework is developed in this paper for selecting technology or combination of technologies for efficient 100% baggage screening. The objective is to determine the optimal combination of technologies and the setting of threshold values for these screening technologies as well. Probability and optimization techniques are used to quantify and evaluate the risk and cost-effectiveness of various device deployment configurations, which are captured by using a system life-cycle cost model. Numerical analysis for all possible system arrangements is demonstrated.