CENTRALISED IMAGE PROCESSING : THE IMPACT ON SECURITY CHECKPOINTS

cabin baggage screening (RCBS) via the use of centralised image processing (CIP) has been implemented at a number of European airports. It has been shown to potentially increase detection performance, throughput, capacity and employee satisfaction. Implementing CIP at security checkpoints hence holds many potential advantages; however, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate and plan to select the most appropriate CIP approach for each airport. In a research project funded in part by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) of Switzerland, the Center for Adaptive Security Research and Applications (CASRA) systematically evaluated (via a multi-method approach) the advantages and disadvantages of CIP for checkpoint security based on important insights gathered from the experiences of pioneers and early adopters. WHAT IS CIP? Centralised Image Processing (CIP) refers to the networking of baggage images generated by X-ray machines. It allows a loosening of the conventional 1:1 ratio between X-ray machine and X-ray screener, introducing a more efficient way of working. While the concept of CIP is widely associated with the screening of hold baggage, the name ‘CIP’ is mainly used in connection with the screening of cabin baggage at security checkpoints. One of the main advantages of CIP is that security screeners do not necessarily need to sit next to an X-ray machine to evaluate images, which allows an airport to be more spatially flexible when organising the task of image analysis.