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The caudal characteristic curve of queues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2016

Marcel F. Neuts*
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
*
Present address: Dept. of Systems and Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

Abstract

Many queues and related stochastic models, and in particular those that have a matrix-geometric stationary probability vector, have steady-state queue-length densities that are asymptotically geometric. The graph of the asymptotic rate η of these densities as a function of the traffic intensity ρ is the caudal characteristic curve. This is an informative graph from which a number of qualitative inferences about the behavior of the queue may be drawn.

The caudal characteristic curve may be computed (by elementary algorithms) for several useful models for which a complete exact numerical solution is not practically feasible. These include queues with certain types of superimposed arrival processes and/or multiple non-exponential servers. The necessary theorems which lead to the algorithmic procedures as well as the interpretation of several numerical examples are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1986 

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