Designing optimal aviation baggage screening strategies using simulated annealing

Terrorist activities are a critical threat to domestic aviation security. Current aviation security models created to address this threat are descriptive rather than prescriptive; they evaluate a given baggage screening strategy rather than identify optimal baggage screening strategies. Moreover, these models only incorporate costs associated with purchasing and operating baggage screening security devices. This research introduces a comprehensive cost function that not only includes direct costs associated with the purchase and operation of baggage screening security devices, but also includes indirect costs associated with device errors. A methodology is presented to determine the best selection of baggage screening security devices that minimizes the expected annual total cost of a baggage screening strategy. Computational experiments with this methodology are presented. Scope and purpose This research presents an optimization-based tool for designing effective aviation security systems. The tool uses a broader cost model than previous tools. It also uses a simulated annealing heuristic to identify lower cost system configurations. This study evaluates the tool's performance for a set of input parameter values in order to recommend appropriate settings for practical use of the tool.