Approximations for the Moments of Nonstationary and State Dependent Birth-Death Queues

In this paper we propose a new method for approximating the nonstationary moment dynamics of one dimensional Markovian birth-death processes. By expanding the transition probabilities of the Markov process in terms of Poisson-Charlier polynomials, we are able to estimate any moment of the Markov process even though the system of moment equations may not be closed. Using new weighted discrete Sobolev spaces, we derive explicit error bounds of the transition probabilities and new weak a priori estimates for approximating the moments of the Markov processs using a truncated form of the expansion. Using our error bounds and estimates, we are able to show that our approximations converge to the true stochastic process as we add more terms to the expansion and give explicit bounds on the truncation error. As a result, we are the first paper in the queueing literature to provide error bounds and estimates on the performance of a moment closure approximation. Lastly, we perform several numerical experiments for some important models in the queueing theory literature and show that our expansion techniques are accurate at estimating the moment dynamics of these Markov process with only a few terms of the expansion

Performance analysis of time-dependent queueing systems: survey and classification

Many queueing systems are subject to time-dependent changes in system parameters, such as the arrival rate or number of servers. Examples include time-dependent call volumes and agents at inbound call centers, time-varying air traffic at airports, time-dependent truck arrival rates at seaports, and cyclic message volumes in computer systems.There are several approaches for the performance analysis of queueing systems with deterministic parameter changes over time. In this survey, we develop a classification scheme that groups these approaches according to their underlying key ideas into (i) numerical and analytical solutions,(ii)approaches based on models with piecewise constant parameters, and (iii) approaches based on mod-ified system characteristics. Additionally, we identify links between the different approaches and provide a survey of applications that are categorized into service, road and air traffic, and IT systems

Strong approximations for time-varying infinite-server queues with non-renewal arrival and service processes

In real stochastic systems, the arrival and service processes may not be renewal processes. For example, in many telecommunication systems such as internet traffic where data traffic is bursty, the sequence of inter-arrival times and service times are often correlated and dependent. One way to model this non-renewal behavior is to use Markovian Arrival Processes (MAPs) and Markovian Service Processes (MSPs). MAPs and MSPs allow for inter-arrival and service times to be dependent, while providing the analytical tractability of simple Markov processes. To this end, we prove fluid and diffusion limits for MAP(t)/MSPt/ queues by constructing a new Poisson process representation for the queueing dynamics and leveraging strong approximations for Poisson processes. As a result, the fluid and diffusion limit theorems illuminate how the dependence structure of the arrival or service processes can affect the sample path behavior of the queueing process. Finally, our Poisson representation for MAPs and MSPs is useful for simulation purposes and may be of independent interest.111sciescopu

Two Classes of Time-Inhomogeneous Markov Chains: Analysis of The Periodic Case

We consider the M/G/1 and GI/M/1 types of Markov chains for which their one step transitions depend on the times of the transitions. These types of Markov chains are encountered in several stochastic models, including queueing systems, dams, inventory systems, insurance risk models, etc. We show that for the cases when the time parameters are periodic the systems can be analyzed using some extensions of known results in the matrix-analytic methods literature. We have limited our examples to those relating to queueing systems to allow us a focus. An example application of the model to a real life problem is presented

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON QUEUEING THEORY 2016

International audienceThis booklet contains the proceedings of the second European Conference in Queueing Theory (ECQT) that was held from the 18th to the 20th of July 2016 at the engineering school ENSEEIHT, Toulouse, France. ECQT is a biannual event where scientists and technicians in queueing theory and related areas get together to promote research, encourage interaction and exchange ideas. The spirit of the conference is to be a queueing event organized from within Europe, but open to participants from all over the world. The technical program of the 2016 edition consisted of 112 presentations organized in 29 sessions covering all trends in queueing theory, including the development of the theory, methodology advances, computational aspects and applications. Another exciting feature of ECQT2016 was the institution of the Takács Award for outstanding PhD thesis on "Queueing Theory and its Applications"

Reflections on queue modelling from the last 50 years

Queueing theory continues to be one of the most researched areas of operational research, and has generated numerous review papers over the years. The phrase 'queue modelling' is used in the title to indicate a more practical emphasis. This paper uses work taken predominantly from the last 50 years of pages of the Operational Research Quarterly and the Journal of the Operational Research Society to offer a commentary on attempts of operational researchers to tackle real queueing problems, and on research foci past and future. A new discipline of 'queue modelling' is proposed, drawing upon the combined strengths of analytic and simulation approaches with the responsibility to derive meaningful insights for managers