Sustainable Queuing-Network Design for Airport Security Based on the Monte Carlo Method

TLDR

Airport queuing network design is crucial for optimizing passenger flow, boarding time, and order, yet high variance in checkpoint lines causes costly delays and missed flights, hindering sustainable development. The study applies the Monte Carlo method to design a sustainable airport queuing network and verifies its efficiency through a case study. The authors use Monte Carlo simulations to generate a network diagram that identifies critical operating points and constructs a structurally and functionally sustainable queuing network. Three sustainable queuing‑network designs were proposed that maintain security standards while increasing throughput and reducing passenger waiting‑time variance.

Abstract

The design of airport queuing networks is a significant research field currently for researchers. Many factors must to be considered in order to achieve the optimized strategies, including the passenger flow volume, boarding time, and boarding order of passengers. Optimizing these factors lead to the sustainable development of the queuing network, which currently faces a few difficulties. In particular, the high variance in checkpoint lines can be extremely costly to passengers as they arrive unduly early or possibly miss their scheduled flights. In this article, the Monte Carlo method is used to design the queuing network so as to achieve sustainable development. Thereafter, a network diagram is used to determine the critical working point, and design a structurally and functionally sustainable network. Finally, a case study for a sustainable queuing-network design in the airport is conducted to verify the efficiency of the proposed model. Specifically, three sustainable queuing-network design solutions are proposed, all of which not only maintain the same standards of security, but also increase checkpoint throughput and reduce passenger waiting time variance.