TSA seeks ‘unconventional minds’ to design new security system
The Transportation Security Administration has taken to crowdsourcing proposals for the next generation of waiting line systems at airports.
TSA last week began a contest on InnoCentive, a crowdsourcing problem solving website seeking proposals from individuals or teams of developers.
The total payout will be $15,000, with at least one award with up to $5,000 offered and no award being smaller than $2,500, the TSA said.
The specific challenge is to develop "a scientific and simulation modeling approach to meet queue design and configuration needs of the dynamic security screening environment with TSA PreCheck."
The agency is also seeking ideas that would help speed up non PreCheck waiting lines.
Proposals should address the physical logistics of airport lines, peak hour volumes, staffing schedules and other constraints associated with airport queues.
The rules state that wait times should not exceed more than 5 minutes for PreCheck passengers and 10 minutes for standard lines.
The deadline for submissions is Aug 5 and so far around 70 applicants have entered the contest.
The agency said the competition is designed to "tap unconventional minds and leverage innovation and out-of-the-box thinking to find solutions to TSA’s most challenging issues."
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