IMPACT OF THE BODY SCANNER APPLICATION ON PASSENGER SCREENING THROUGHPUT

Abstract

The development of airport security screening systems requires the use of increasingly sophisticated and effective equipment to detect prohibited or hazardous items and substances. However, this can lead to a reduction in the throughput of the security checkpoint (SCP). This paper addresses the operationally important problem of the dilemma between screening effectiveness and screening checkpoint throughput, which is important to the real operational capabilities of an airport. In this paper, a comparison of traditional walk-through metal detectors (WTMD) gates and newer technology body scanners (BSs) was carried out in terms of SCP throughput as an element determining the operational capabilities of the airport. For this purpose, a simulation model was developed to study throughput based on a colored timed Petri net. The analysis showed that, depending on the characteristics of the available staff, the level of terrorist and epidemic threat, as well as the time of year, it is advantageous to use different strategies to vary the size of the stream of passengers directed for screening by the WTMD gate and BS.