Performance analysis of priority queueing systems in discrete time

The integration of different types of traffic in packet-based networks spawns the need for traffic differentiation. In this tutorial paper, we present some analytical techniques to tackle discrete-time queueing systems with priority scheduling. We investigate both preemptive (resume and repeat) and non-preemptive priority scheduling disciplines. Two classes of traffic are considered, high-priority and low-priority traffic, which both generate variable-length packets. A probability generating functions approach leads to performance measures such as moments of system contents and packet delays of both classes

Approximations for the waiting-time distribution in an M/P H/c priority queue

We investigate the use of priority mechanisms when assigning service engineers to customers as a tool for service differentiation. To this end, we analyze a non-preemptive M/PH/c priority queue with various customer classes. For this queue, we present various accurate and fast methods to estimate the first two moments of the waiting time per class given that all servers are occupied. These waiting time moments allow us to approximate the overall waiting time distribution per class. We subsequently apply these methods to real-life data in a case study