Week 2 Discussion - Queuing Networks, An airline security checkpoint

Week 2 Discussion

Queuing Networks

An airline security checkpoint may be modeled as a system of two queueing networks, one for trays and the other for passengers. Let's focus on the queue associated with the passengers. The passengers arrive at a rack of trays to hold items to be X-rayed, load the trays, and then queue to walk through a metal detector while the trays go through an X-ray machine. The network seen by the customers consists of one or more guard stations at which identities and boarding passes are checked, followed by a queue for trays, and then another queue to go through the metal detector.

Identify the type of queueing network traversed by the passengers. Explain the effect on passenger delays of having (i) multiple X-ray machines and tray racks, (ii) too few trays, and (iii) a single agent for checking boarding passes and identity documents.

Propose configurations of X-ray machines, tray pallets, and ID inspection lines when the airport has a policy of giving priority to frequent fliers at the entrance to the security area. Explain what happens if the proportion of frequent fliers at a given hour is high or low.