ABSTRACT:   Airport checkpoints (ACPs) for passengers and hand luggage are critical bottlenecks of airport infrastructures. Aiming at high level of security, since 9/11 they confront passengers with an ever increasing number of detection devices and procedures. Inter alia, this reduces throughput and passenger acceptance and increases costs and complexity for the aviation industry. Our work aims at assessing the performance and security of ACPs.

Along with the work on an EU-Project, we model ACPs in the semi-formal system modeling language (SysML) which is an extended subset of the unified modeling language (UML). The models are also visualized in a 3D representation of the system. Whereas the 3D visualization is used as main interface feature to the user, SysML is the basis for system analysis and evaluation. Current ACPs have various elements in common because of very strict EU regulations. Nevertheless many different systems exist. The use of SysML facilitates the model generation and enables the categorization and evaluation of the majority of existing ACP configurations.

We present how SysML is used to model an ACP and capture its relevant features for analysis and evaluation. We show what kind of SysML elements/diagrams are needed to apply system analysis methods like FMEA, ETA or FTA to an ACP modeled in SysML as well as structural and functional system analysis. Additionally, the performance and security of an ACP should be assessed using indicators formulated on system level, e.g. detection performance, throughput, passenger satisfaction, area needed, legal compliance, waiting time and deterrence. We discuss analysis and simulation methods that can be employed to determine the named indicators, in particular queuing theory, Monte Carlo simulation or the development of a discrete event system specification and simulation. We list the SysML diagrams, elements and extensions that have to be used for the ACP modeling as basis for the named analysis and evaluation methods.

SPEAKER and AUTHORS:  Ivo Häring studied physics and mathematics at University Regensburg, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) Munich and received his PhD in physics at the Max-Planck-Institute for Complex Systems (MPIPKS) Dresden. Since 2004 he works at the Fraunhofer Ernst-Mach-Institut (EMI) in the area of (semi-)quantitative risk analysis, risk and resilience management, technical reliability and system safety analysis. Since 2009 he block-lectures on safety and security engineering, and since 2012 on technical reliability. In 2008 he established the group Technical Safety. Currently 14 permanent researchers work mainly on projects granted by the European Seventh Framework Programe (EU FP7), the German Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Philipp Renger graduated with a diploma in physics form University Munich in 2010. Working at Munich RE, he contributed to hazard and risk simulation and assessment tools. Within his ongoing PhD work at FHG-EMI, he focuses on semiformal SysML/UML airport check point overall system models for the performance and security analysis of checkpoints. Possible analysis methods include (bottom-up) analytical system analysis, flow analysis, discrete analysis as well as qualitative evaluation results, which cover passenger perception, human factor, human influence, legal and societal aspects.

Uli Siebold is research assistant in the Technical Safety Group at Fraunhofer Ernst-Mach-Institute (EMI). He holds a diploma in computer science obtained at the University of Freiburg. His interests include modeling of safety critical systems, in particular in the domain of urban security and airport safety. Since 2006 he works at Fraunhofer EMI and recently finished his PhD in the domain of semi-formal modeling of safety critical systems.