Unpredictable guard patrols at airports serve as a deterrent against criminals and terrorists looking for potential targets to attack. To avoid inadequate variation in routines planned by security staff, based on the theoretical ideas in Dr. Praveen Paruchuri's doctoral thesis, a research team at the University of Southern California (USC; Los Angeles, CA, USA) developed a new software program, Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes (ARMOR). Prof. Milind Tambe, Paruchuri's advisor at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering, said "They thought they could use it [his idea] in the real world." The project was funded by the US Department Homeland Security's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE; Los Angeles, CA, USA) at USC.

ARMOR uses a decision-making algorithm to create random routes for guard patrols over large areas. The program considers the following main data points: site configuration, patrol locations, staffing levels, and threat information. The user interface features a simple Microsoft Excel-style schedule, with shaded fields representing suggested sites for motor vehicle checkpoints and explosive-detection canine patrols

Tambe and Paruchuri, now at Intelligent Automation, Inc. (Rockville, MD, USA), together with a joint team from USC, the University of Maryland (College Park, USA), and Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel), customized the ARMOR software for the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). During a six-month pilot run at LAX, ARMOR was adapted according to field data.

The ARMOR program is currently also under consideration as a candidate for funding by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Related Links:
Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes (ARMOR)
Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.