Simulation Model to Support Security Screening Checkpoint Operations in Airport Terminals

Abstract

Since 2001 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented security screening checkpoints (SSCPs) in the terminals of 440 airports in the U.S.A. The purpose of SSCPs is to prevent prohibited items from being brought onto aircraft. The screening procedure incurs delay to every traveler. This article reports the development of a discrete event simulation model capable of modeling the screening procedures within a SSCP in detail. The model replicates a SSCP at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and represents the equipment and activities in the SSCP with 153 nodes, 106 links, two sources, two sinks, and 35 servers. The coded model was calibrated with field data collected primarily at PHX. The potential applications of the model were demonstrated via two experiments: (a) increasing the number of TSA staff; (b) reducing the number of screening lanes. The experiments demonstrated that this microscopic simulation approach captured the queue length and waiting time of every internal process within the SSCP. These performance data helped to identify the hot spots within the SSCP so that improvements to the waiting time could be made by focusing on the problematic components.