205 research outputs found
Global attraction of ODE-based mean field models with hyperexponential job sizes
Mean field modeling is a popular approach to assess the performance of large
scale computer systems. The evolution of many mean field models is
characterized by a set of ordinary differential equations that have a unique
fixed point. In order to prove that this unique fixed point corresponds to the
limit of the stationary measures of the finite systems, the unique fixed point
must be a global attractor. While global attraction was established for various
systems in case of exponential job sizes, it is often unclear whether these
proof techniques can be generalized to non-exponential job sizes. In this paper
we show how simple monotonicity arguments can be used to prove global
attraction for a broad class of ordinary differential equations that capture
the evolution of mean field models with hyperexponential job sizes. This class
includes both existing as well as previously unstudied load balancing schemes
and can be used for systems with either finite or infinite buffers. The main
novelty of the approach exists in using a Coxian representation for the
hyperexponential job sizes and a partial order that is stronger than the
componentwise partial order used in the exponential case.Comment: This paper was accepted at ACM Sigmetrics 201
Networks of Server Queues with Shot-Noise-Driven Arrival Intensities
We study infinite-server queues in which the arrival process is a Cox process
(or doubly stochastic Poisson process), of which the arrival rate is given by
shot noise. A shot-noise rate emerges as a natural model, if the arrival rate
tends to display sudden increases (or: shots) at random epochs, after which the
rate is inclined to revert to lower values. Exponential decay of the shot noise
is assumed, so that the queueing systems are amenable for analysis. In
particular, we perform transient analysis on the number of customers in the
queue jointly with the value of the driving shot-noise process. Additionally,
we derive heavy-traffic asymptotics for the number of customers in the system
by using a linear scaling of the shot intensity. First we focus on a one
dimensional setting in which there is a single infinite-server queue, which we
then extend to a network setting
A computational approach to steady-state convergence of fluid limits for Coxian queuing networks with abandonment
Many-server queuing networks with general service and abandonment times have proven to be a realistic model for scenarios such as call centers and health-care systems. The presence of abandonment makes analytical treatment difficult for general topologies. Hence, such networks are usually studied by means of fluid limits. The current state of the art, however, suffers from two drawbacks. First, convergence to a fluid limit has been established only for the transient, but not for the steady state regime. Second, in the case of general distributed service and abandonment times, convergence to a fluid limit has been either established only for a single queue, or has been given by means of a system of coupled integral equations which does not allow for a numerical solution. By making the mild assumption of Coxian-distributed service and abandonment times, in this paper we address both drawbacks by establishing convergence in probability to a system of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using the theory of Kurtz. The presence of abandonments leads in many cases to ODE systems with a global attractor, which is known to be a sufficient condition for the fluid and the stochastic steady state to coincide in the limiting regime. The fact that our ODE systems are piecewise affine enables a computational method for establishing the presence of a global attractor, based on a solution of a system of linear matrix inequalities
Performance evaluation of warehouses with automated storage and retrieval technologies.
In this dissertation, we study the performance evaluation of two automated warehouse material handling (MH) technologies - automated storage/retrieval system (AS/RS) and autonomous vehicle storage/retrieval system (AVS/RS). AS/RS is a traditional automated warehouse MH technology and has been used for more than five decades. AVS/RS is a relatively new automated warehouse MH technology and an alternative to AS/RS. There are two possible configurations of AVS/RS: AVS/RS with tier-captive vehicles and AVS/RS with tier-to-tier vehicles. We model the AS/RS and both configurations of the AVS/RS as queueing networks. We analyze and develop approximate algorithms for these network models and use them to estimate performance of the two automated warehouse MH technologies. Chapter 2 contains two parts. The first part is a brief review of existing papers about AS/RS and AVS/RS. The second part is a methodological review of queueing network theory, which serves as a building block for our study. In Chapter 3, we model AS/RSs and AVS/RSs with tier-captive vehicles as open queueing networks (OQNs). We show how to analyze OQNs and estimate related performance measures. We then apply an existing OQN analyzer to compare the two MH technologies and answer various design questions. In Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, we present some efficient algorithms to solve SOQN. We show how to model AVS/RSs with tier-to-tier vehicles as SOQNs and evaluate performance of these designs in Chapter 6. AVS/RS is a relatively new automated warehouse design technology. Hence, there are few efficient analytical tools to evaluate performance measures of this technology. We developed some efficient algorithms based on SOQN to quickly and effectively evaluate performance of AVS/RS. Additionally, we present a tool that helps a warehouse designer during the concepting stage to determine the type of MH technology to use, analyze numerous alternate warehouse configurations and select one of these for final implementation
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