Applying branching processes to delay-tolerant networks

Mobility models that have been used in the past to study delay tolerant networks (DTNs) have been either too complex to allow for deriving analytical expressions for performance measures, or have been too simplistic. In this paper we identify several classes of DTNs where the dynamics of the number of nodes that have a copy of some packet can be modeled as branching process with migration. Using recent results on such processes in a random environment, we obtain explicit formulae for the first two moments of the number of copies of a file that is propagated in the DTN, for quite general mobility models. Numerical examples illustrate our approach

The impact of production interruptions on kitting, an analytical study

Nowadays, customers request more variation in a company's product assortment leading to an increased amount of parts moving around on the shop floor. To cope with this tendency, a kitting process can be implemented. As it gathers the necessary parts into a container prior to assembly, kitting enables a more cost-efficient and qualitative production. However, the performance of this preparation technique in an assembly process has merely been investigated. Therefore, we study a kitting process with two parts as a continuous-time Markovian queueing model. In particular, our study assess the impact of production interruptions on kitting