Jerzy Uchroński

The equipment of airport security screening checkpoints undergoes frequent modifications due to technological or organizational changes. New solutions complement or replace existing ones to improve the effectiveness of the equipment or formal requirements. An example of this process is the replacement of the walk-through metal detection gate with a newer solution: the body scanner. The present study aimed to analyze the capacity of an airport security checkpoint under different operational conditions, depending on the equipment used. For this purpose, a previously created model (implemented as a colored, timed, stochastic Petri net) was used. Simulation studies were performed in four real-world operational scenarios, and their results were compared to those of a nominal scenario. The results show that, in terms of capacity, it may be advantageous to redirect a more significant stream of passengers to a station equipped with a specific device, depending on the specific operational situation. The results demonstrate the necessity of analyzing the applied strategy of operation with each change in the operational environment. In particular, for an airport with characteristics similar to Katowice Airport, using older technology is beneficial under nominal conditions and after increasing the staffing so that both genders work simultaneously. In other cases, the more intensive use of Body Scanner-equipped security screening checkpoints is advantageous.

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.