Integer Programming Models for Deployment of Airport Baggage Screening Security Devices

Aviation security is an important problem of national interest and concern. Baggage screening security devices and operations at airports throughout the United States provide an important defense against terrorist actions targeted at commercial aircraft. Determining where to deploy such devices, and how to best use them can be quite challenging. This paper presents NP-complete decision problems concerning the deployment and utilization of baggage screening security devices. These problems incorporate three different deployment performance measures: uncovered baggage segments, uncovered flight segments, and uncovered passenger segments. Integer programming models are formulated to address optimization versions of these problems and to identify optimal baggage screening security device deployments (i.e., determine the number and type of baggage screening security devices that should be placed at different airports, and determining which baggage should be screened with such devices). The models are illustrated with an example that incorporates data extracted from the Official Airline Guide (OAG).