AbSRiM: An Agent-Based Security Risk Management Approach for Airport Operations.

Area of Science:

• Airport security operations
• Risk management methodologies
• Computational modeling and simulation

Background:

• Effective airport security risk management is crucial for operational integrity.
• Traditional methods often lack comprehensive integration of human and spatiotemporal dynamics.
• A need exists for advanced approaches to model complex security threats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce AbSRiM, a novel agent-based modeling and simulation approach for airport security risk management.
• To incorporate formal sociotechnical models, including temporal and spatial aspects, into risk assessment.
• To demonstrate the feasibility and potential of AbSRiM through a case study.

Main Methods:

• The AbSRiM approach involves four steps: scope selection, agent-based model definition, risk assessment, and risk mitigation.
• Utilizes agent-based modeling to simulate threat scenarios, such as improvised explosive device attacks.
• Employs Monte Carlo simulations to estimate security risks based on modeled scenarios.

Main Results:

• The AbSRiM approach successfully modeled a threat scenario involving an improvised explosive device attack on an airport terminal.
• Results demonstrate the feasibility of integrating human and spatiotemporal aspects into security risk assessment.
• The approach shows potential for improving the comprehensiveness of security risk evaluations.

Conclusions:

• AbSRiM offers a promising framework for enhancing airport security risk management by including critical human and spatiotemporal factors.
• Further research is required to explore the strengths and weaknesses of AbSRiM across diverse case studies.
• The demonstrated feasibility highlights AbSRiM's potential to advance security risk assessment methodologies.