eVelocity helped Brussels Airport improve the efficiency of its staff and crew security lanes by increasing throughput, enhancing security, and lowering operational costs.

1. Remote Screening Solution
Airport Increases Staff Lane Efficiency with eVelocity

2. I N D U S T R Y
A v i a t i o n S e c u r i t y
C U S T O M E R
B r u s s e l s A i r p o r t
S t a f f a n d c r e w l a n e s
The Challenge
Brussels Airport was looking for a partner to help
improve the efficiency of its staff checkpoint lanes.
The challenge was balancing throughput, cost, and
security of the airport’s staff and crew lanes. There
were four lanes with limitations on space, multiple
locations scattered across the airport, and some lanes
that were used to screen a combination of staff and
airline crew members. Optosecurity accepted the
mandate to reduce operational and capital expenses
whilst ensuring an increased throughput and
maintaining high security levels.
Needs Assessment
The first step in the process was developing a
concrete understanding of the specific operations
that the customer required. Optosecurity combined
operational surveys with detailed concept of
operations interviews of Brussels Airport
stakeholders to model the current performance and
expected future configuration performance of the
solution. The information gathered included
screening requirements, equipment and lane
configurations, security shift and manpower
schedules and system performance parameters such
as items screened, average screening time, analysis
of average clutter in bags, and security space
allotments for the various locations.
Based on the data gathered, Optosecurity modeled
the expected behavior with the addition of eVelocity
remote screening on the four lanes. Based on
maintaining throughput at three remote staff lanes
and improving throughput at one crew lanes,
Optosecurity modeled the required staffing to meet
the Brussels requirements.
“ The Optosecurity system
helps us on one hand to
reduce the operating cost
of our airport, but also to
increase the throughput
of our security
operations. Overall we
are very satisfied with the
performance of eVelocity
at Brussels Airport. ”
-Arnaud Feist,
CEO Brussels Airport

3. Proposed Solution
The three employee lanes were constrained by
limited floor space, were located within remote areas
of the airport ground, and had a lower throughput
requirement. The conveyors were configured in what
we refer to as “stop mode” configuration. In this
configuration, the conveyor is stopped for the
duration of the x-ray analysis by a screening agent
and restarted automatically or manually depending
on the item’s status and the threat, or no threat,
decision. Optosecurity proposed these changes to
enable eVelocity implementation of remote viewing
of x-ray images from a central screening room by one
or many operators for these lanes.
The crew lane, on the other hand, was configured
with what we call “continuous mode” configuration.
A continuous mode configuration may require more
lane length, but provides higher throughput. In
continuous mode, a “decision conveyor” is added to
the exit of the X-ray to allow a remote analysis agent
more time to make a decision on each x-ray image.
By allowing this extra time and by multiplexing with
multiple screening agents, the x-ray belt on the lane
does not need to stop as frequently and therefore
allows much higher throughput. The “decision
conveyor” is also shielded from the staff/crew to
allow a “positive control area” to prevent anyone
from tampering with or leaving with an item prior to
a decision being made. If an item represents a threat,
it is manually removed by the secondary screener at
recheck for further inspection.
Figure 1. Continuous mode staff lane

4. Optosecurity recommended this lane be configured in
continuous mode with eVelocity, whereby the
software sends all X-ray images acquired to a central
repository. The images are then made available for
analysis by any of the screeners in the centralized
screening room allowing one to one, one to many or
many to many screening configurations (analysis
agent to lane).
Given the recommendations as described and based
on the schedule of screeners and the given
contractual rates provided by the airport,
Optosecurity modeled the expected behavior of the
lanes. The result of the model indicated that the
airport could expect approximately €29,000 ($32,000
USD) in operational savings per month.
Results
After implementation of the proposed eVelocity
solution and lane modifications the following results
were observed*:
CAPACITY & EFFICIENCY
Remote screening contributes to evenly distribute
workload among available resources, resulting in
manpower savings and throughput increase. Thanks
to eVelocity, Brussels airport was able to reduce its
labor hours for image analysis on a typical day by 69
% (figure 2) with a staff lane per operator ratio going
from one to one to an average of 3.39 to one. The
average throughput per operator has also
experienced a substantial growth of 224 %, as shown
in figure 3.
*The results shown in the present document are based solely on Brussels
Airport staff and crew lanes performance and do not take passenger lanes
into account.
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Figure 2. Labor hours distribution before &
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Labor hours with eVelocity
Labor hours prior to eVelocity
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Figure 3. Average throughput per operator
before and after eVelocity
Throughput per operator prior to eVelocity
Throughput per operator with eVelocity

5. While remote screening allows one operator to screen
multiple lanes, it can also be used to significantly
increase items throughput by using a lane to its full
potential. The figure below shows the maximum
throughput capacity per lane based on Brussels Airport
statistics for one crew lane.
Brussels Airport crew lane measuring approximately 39
feet, its theoretical throughput capacity with eVelocity
would be of 500 items per hour considering an
average item size of 20 inches and a reclaim time of 45
seconds per employee. However, with an average
reject rate of 4.8 % and an average analysis time of 6.5
seconds, an operator would bring the maximum
throughput capacity to 558 items per hour. With such
a configuration, the optimal analysis work station per
lane ratio is 1. Prior to integrating remote screening
and modifying the lane configuration, the maximum
throughput rate of Brussels crew lane was of
approximately 360 items an hour. By configuring the
lane with the continuous mode and by implementing
centralized image processing, eVelocity increased its
capacity of almost 18 %.
SCREENER ENVIRONMENT & PERFORMANCE
Performing image analysis for threats requires
concentration, attention to detail and speed. In a
noisy environment with multiple distractions from
crew, other staff, passengers and the noise of the
screening equipment, the task is difficult. For the
implementation of eVelocity a central location was
selected. The environment was more conducive to
performing the analysis task, with a quiet room, with
better lighting and workstations. The operator was
away from the passengers and crew, found it easier
to concentrate on the task, and had better tools to
identify and mark threats.
“We are in a quiet room, so we
can focus on one
flash image and only one
luggage instead of many
bags […] it helps us to do our
job better.”
-Nick Riccihuti,
Security Team Leader G4S
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Figure 4. Brussels crew lane - continuous mode
throughput capacity
Lane throughput
Maximum operator capacity
Theoretical lane capacity - with eVelocity
Theoretical lane capacity - Prior to eVelocity

6. The centralization of the screening function also
brings many additional benefits. From a security
standpoint, the risk of insider threat was mitigated at
the lane as the screener has no contact with the local
crew or employee being screened. Additionally, after
ergonomic analysis by the airport, the screening
rotation time was increased from 20 minutes to 40
minutes allowing for greater flexibility in screening
agent rotations. As a measure of performance, the
Brussels airport found that the screeners measurable
performance on the crew and staff lanes improved as
follows:
• Probability of Detection (TIP – Threat Image
Projection) improved 8% (rose from 82% to 90%)
overall, with some lanes reaching as much as 16%
improvement.
• Ability to discriminate a threat item from a safe
item ratio (d-prime) improved by .45 (rose from
2.3 to 2.75
• Average Speed of threat analysis (TIP) improved
by 2 seconds per threat image (from 13 seconds
per image to 11 seconds per image.)
COST SAVINGS
A post install analysis was done over the following
months from installation and compared to the
predicted utilization. The modeled analysis led to the
prediction of a cost savings of approximately €29,000
($32,000 USD) in operational savings per month
based on reduced screener requirements relative to
the required throughputs. After post install analysis,
the actual savings by the airport were €30,000
($33,000 USD) per month.
The staff lane project at Brussels was a success on all
fronts. The challenge to reduce operational and
capital expenditure whilst ensuring a sufficient
throughput and a high security level was not only
met, but exceeded expectations. The summary of
the results were as follows:
Improved Security
Reduction of Insider Threat (remote operator)
Improved Threat Discrimination (D’ (d-prime))
Improved Threat Identification (TIP)
Improved Throughput
18% bag throughput improvement
Improved operational capacity
Lower Cost
Monthly savings of €30,000 ($33,000 USD)
Additionally, Optosecurity improved the work
environment for the security staff, allowing them a
better analysis environment with improved tools to
identify and mark threats, allowing for more “on
screen” time per rotation, increasing the airport and
security services company’s staffing flexibility.
As a result of the success of the first implementation
of remote screening at Brussels airport, The Brussels
Airport Company implemented remote screening
throughout the airport including all passenger lanes.
Currently there are 30 lanes with Optosecurity’s
eVelocity deployed at the airport.
Summary
“Our success rate at detecting objects
with this initiative has increased by
approximately 16 per cent.”
-David Stockton
Director G4S

7. CONTAC T US
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