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

• Main Authors: Xiangqian Xu, Zhexuan Zhou, Yajie Dou, Yuejin Tan, Tianjun Liao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-01-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sustainable queuing-network design; network diagram; Monte Carlo Method; system analysis
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/2/1

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.