3,267 research outputs found
Reversibility in Queueing Models
In stochastic models for queues and their networks, random events evolve in
time. A process for their backward evolution is referred to as a time reversed
process. It is often greatly helpful to view a stochastic model from two
different time directions. In particular, if some property is unchanged under
time reversal, we may better understand that property. A concept of
reversibility is invented for this invariance. Local balance for a stationary
Markov chain has been used for a weaker version of the reversibility. However,
it is still too strong for queueing applications.
We are concerned with a continuous time Markov chain, but dose not assume it
has the stationary distribution. We define reversibility in structure as an
invariant property of a family of the set of models under certain operation.
The member of this set is a pair of transition rate function and its supporting
measure, and each set represents dynamics of queueing systems such as arrivals
and departures. We use a permutation {\Gamma} of the family menmbers, that is,
the sets themselves, to describe the change of the dynamics under time
reversal. This reversibility is is called {\Gamma}-reversibility in structure.
To apply these definitions, we introduce new classes of models, called
reacting systems and self-reacting systems. Using those definitions and models,
we give a unified view for queues and their networks which have reversibility
in structure, and show how their stationary distributions can be obtained. They
include symmetric service, batch movements and state dependent routing.Comment: Submitted for publicatio
Control of Robotic Mobility-On-Demand Systems: a Queueing-Theoretical Perspective
In this paper we present and analyze a queueing-theoretical model for
autonomous mobility-on-demand (MOD) systems where robotic, self-driving
vehicles transport customers within an urban environment and rebalance
themselves to ensure acceptable quality of service throughout the entire
network. We cast an autonomous MOD system within a closed Jackson network model
with passenger loss. It is shown that an optimal rebalancing algorithm
minimizing the number of (autonomously) rebalancing vehicles and keeping
vehicles availabilities balanced throughout the network can be found by solving
a linear program. The theoretical insights are used to design a robust,
real-time rebalancing algorithm, which is applied to a case study of New York
City. The case study shows that the current taxi demand in Manhattan can be met
with about 8,000 robotic vehicles (roughly 60% of the size of the current taxi
fleet). Finally, we extend our queueing-theoretical setup to include congestion
effects, and we study the impact of autonomously rebalancing vehicles on
overall congestion. Collectively, this paper provides a rigorous approach to
the problem of system-wide coordination of autonomously driving vehicles, and
provides one of the first characterizations of the sustainability benefits of
robotic transportation networks.Comment: 10 pages, To appear at RSS 201
Incentives for Quality through Endogenous Routing
We study how rework routing together with wage and piece rate compensation can strengthen incentives for quality. Traditionally, rework is assigned back to the agent who generates the defect (in a self routing scheme) or to another agent dedicated to rework (in a dedicated routing scheme). In contrast, a novel cross routing scheme allocates rework to a parallel agent performing both new jobs and rework. The agent who passes quality inspection or completes rework receives the piece rate paid per job. We compare the incentives of these rework allocation schemes in a principal-agent model with embedded quality control and routing in a multi-class queueing network. We show that conventional self routing of rework can never induce first-best effort. Dedicated routing and cross routing, however, strengthen incentives for quality by imposing an implicit punishment for quality failure. In addition, cross routing leads to workload allocation externalities and a prisonerâs dilemma, thereby creating highest incentives for quality. Firm profitability depends on capacity levels, revenues, and quality costs. With ample capacity, dedicated routing and cross routing both achieve first-best profit rate, while self routing does not. With limited capacity, cross routing generates the highest profit rate when appraisal, internal failure, or external failure costs are high, while self routing performs best when gross margins are high. When the number of agents increases, the incentive power of cross routing reduces monotonically and approaches that of dedicated routing.queueing networks; routing; Nash equilibrium; quality control; piece rate; epsilon equilibrium.
Cloud Enabled Emergency Navigation Using Faster-than-real-time Simulation
State-of-the-art emergency navigation approaches are designed to evacuate
civilians during a disaster based on real-time decisions using a pre-defined
algorithm and live sensory data. Hence, casualties caused by the poor decisions
and guidance are only apparent at the end of the evacuation process and cannot
then be remedied. Previous research shows that the performance of routing
algorithms for evacuation purposes are sensitive to the initial distribution of
evacuees, the occupancy levels, the type of disaster and its as well its
locations. Thus an algorithm that performs well in one scenario may achieve bad
results in another scenario. This problem is especially serious in
heuristic-based routing algorithms for evacuees where results are affected by
the choice of certain parameters. Therefore, this paper proposes a
simulation-based evacuee routing algorithm that optimises evacuation by making
use of the high computational power of cloud servers. Rather than guiding
evacuees with a predetermined routing algorithm, a robust Cognitive Packet
Network based algorithm is first evaluated via a cloud-based simulator in a
faster-than-real-time manner, and any "simulated casualties" are then re-routed
using a variant of Dijkstra's algorithm to obtain new safe paths for them to
exits. This approach can be iterated as long as corrective action is still
possible.Comment: Submitted to PerNEM'15 for revie
Towards a System Theoretic Approach to Wireless Network Capacity in Finite Time and Space
In asymptotic regimes, both in time and space (network size), the derivation
of network capacity results is grossly simplified by brushing aside queueing
behavior in non-Jackson networks. This simplifying double-limit model, however,
lends itself to conservative numerical results in finite regimes. To properly
account for queueing behavior beyond a simple calculus based on average rates,
we advocate a system theoretic methodology for the capacity problem in finite
time and space regimes. This methodology also accounts for spatial correlations
arising in networks with CSMA/CA scheduling and it delivers rigorous
closed-form capacity results in terms of probability distributions. Unlike
numerous existing asymptotic results, subject to anecdotal practical concerns,
our transient one can be used in practical settings: for example, to compute
the time scales at which multi-hop routing is more advantageous than single-hop
routing
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