Effects of Baggage Volume and Alarm Rate on Airport Security Screening Checkpoint Efficiency Using Queuing Networks and Discrete Event Simulation

This study used queuing networks and discrete event simulation (DES) to investigate the effects of baggage volume and alarm rate at the security screening checkpoint (SSCP) of a small origin and destination airport. A queuing network was applied for theoretical modeling of the SSCP performance, and a DES model using Arena Version 12 was used for an empirical approach. Data were collected from both literature and by manual collection during the peak operating time of the airport that was modeled. The simulation model was verified and validated qualitatively and quantitatively by statistical testing before experimentation. After validation, a sensitivity analysis was performed on baggage volume of passengers (PAX) and the alarm rate of baggage screening devices, where SSCP throughput and PAX cycle time, were the dependent measures. The theoretical queuing network proved an accurate method of predicting cycle time for the system while in steady state but was subject to various assumptions. The empirical model and sensitivity analysis showed that SSCP throughput and cycle time are both highly sensitive to alarm rate. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis showed that SSCP throughput was completely resilient to baggage volume, while cycle time was moderately sensitive to baggage volume. Practical implications and future research were also discussed.