csc216-601-P1-03

-------- What is PackAirSimulator? --------

PackAirSimulator is an application for simulating airport security checkpoint wait times.

It was developed for a ficticious airline named PackAir. They had recently acquired an

entire terminal at the airport and wanted to determine the answer to the following questions:

- How many checkpoints should the terminal have?

- How should the checkpoints be arranged? How many fast-track security lines, TSA pre-check

lines should they have? How many ordinary lines?

- How long might their customers spend waiting in line depending on the answers to the

previous two questions?

-------- Information on using the simulator --------

To use the program, run the file SecurityCheckpointViewer.java from the command line.

The file is located in the src/ui/ folder.

The GUI will appear. Enter number of checkpoints (3-17), number of passengers for the

simulation, and the % distribution of the different types of passengers. The output will

be the average wait time for passengers and the average time spent processing in security.

A note to users: During the simulation, passengers are represented by different colored

discs. Lighter colored passengers have shorter wait times (maybe they are faster to empty

their bag or take their shoes off!). The blue discs represent Fast Track passengers. Red

discs are ordinary passengers, and green discs are TSA Pre-check passengers.

The first third of the checkpoint lines is reserved for fast-track only. The middle ones

are for any type of passenger. The final line is reserved for TSA Trusted Travelers only.

-------- Information about design and implementation --------

PackAirSimulator utilizes Java Swing, the UI libraries for Java. Java Swing utlizes a

a modified MVC design, i.e. separable model architecture (the model is made up of

separate and distinct classes and the view/controller are contained in a single UI class)

The simulation contains 2 types of events, handled with an event calendar class:

1. At the ticketing area. The event is a passenger leaving the ticketing area and entering

the security area. The passenger goes immediately to the back of the line of passengers for

the selected security checkpoint. Later, the same passenger will reach the front of the line

and complete processing at the checkpoint.

2. At a security checkpoint. The event is a passenger departure from the front of a security

checkpoint line. The passenger at the front of each line is at a security checkpoint

undergoing processing. The departing passenger logs his or her information (how long the

passenger stood in line prior to actual security processing and how long the passenger took

to go through processing after making it to the front of the line), and then leaves the

simulation.

When the simulation begins, all passengers are created with an automatically generated

arrival time and processing time using a random number. The passenger's wait time is

calculated once they leave the ticketing area and join a security checkpoint line.

Refer to /project_docs/ to reference the UML diagram for this program.