Scheduling policies for an antiterrorist surveillance system
By: by Kyle Y. Lin, Moshe Kress, Roberto Szechtman
Contributors: Kress, Moshe; Szechtman, Roberto; Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 23
Description: "A surveillance system is designated to detect terrorists in a crowded area to prevent a potential attack.  Such a system usually does not have the capacity to screen all the people in the area.  If the sojourn time distribution of a terrorist is different from that of the other people in the crowd, then it is possible to increase the probability of detecting a terrorist in time by using a decision rule to choose whom to inspect next.  We use a queueing model with impatient customers to describe the interaction between the surveillance system and the surveyed people.  We identify a few cases when a simple service rule--such as the first-come-first-serve-rule--is optimal.  In general, we develop a heuristic policy that is particularly effective in an area with heavy traffic, such as an airport check-in lobby."-- p. v.
Notes: Title from cover.

"Prepared for: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943-5000."--Cover.

"July 2006."--Cover.

"NPS-OR-06-008."--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 21-22).

"Approved for public release; distribution unlimited"--Cover.

Technical report; July 2006.

dk/ original 12/4/06