A joint model for usability and security of the passenger process in airports

As new security technologies are introduced in public transportation systems, their accessibility for the disabled needs to be evaluated. We analyze the usability of the passenger process in airports alongside the security risk, both from the point of view of the disabled and elderly passengers. A process-centered analytical framework has been developed. The methodology is to identify different user profiles as well as the various tasks involved in the passenger process. Cognitive walkthrough method is used to assess aspects of passenger inconvenience and security risks for selected user profiles. A normalized scale has been used to compare the two aspects quantitatively. Results are presented for the passengers with cochlear implant. The framework can be used at the design stage for usability and risk evaluation of new security technologies, thus avoiding new technological barriers.