Queueing System

Chapter-4
Compiled By: Bal Krishna Nyaupane
balkrishnanyaupane@gmail.com
 4.1 Queueing Model

 In a typical queueing model, customers arrive from time to time and join a queue
(waiting line), are eventually served, and finally leave the system.
 The term "customer" refers to any type of entity that can be viewed as requesting
"service" from a system. Therefore, many service facilities, production systems, repair
and maintenance facilities, communications and computer systems, and transport and
material-handling systems can be viewed as queueing systems.
 Queueing models, whether solved mathematically or analyzed through simulation,
provide the analyst with a powerful tool for designing and evaluating the performance
of queueing systems. Typical measures system performance, include server utilization
(percentage of time a server is busy), length of waiting lines, and delays of customers.
 When designing or attempting to improve a queueing system, the analyst is involved in
tradeoffs between server utilization and customer satisfaction in terms of line lengths
and delays.
 4.1 Queueing Model
 Queueing theory and simulation analysis are used to predict these measures of system
performance as a function of the input parameters.
 The input parameters include the arrival rate of customers, the service demands of
customers, the rate at which a server works, and the number and arrangement of servers.

Figure: Queueing Model

 4.2 Characteristics of Queuing Systems

 The Calling Population

• It is the population of potential customers. Assumed to be finite or infinite.
• Finite population model: if arrival rate depends on the number of customers being
served and waiting.
• For example, consider a bank of five machines that are curing tires. After an interval
of time, a machine automatically opens and must be attended by a worker who
removes the tire and puts an uncured tire into the machine. The machines are the
"customers;' who "arrive" at the instant they automatically open. The worker is the
"server," who "serves" an open machine as soon as possible. The calling population
is finite and consists of the five machines.
• Infinite population model: if arrival rate is not affected by the number of
customers being served and waiting .
• Examples of infinite populations include the potential customers of a restaurant,
bank, or other similar service facility.
 4.2 Characteristics of Queuing Systems
 System Capacity
• A limit on the number of customers that may be in the waiting line or system. It may be
Limited or Unlimited.
• For example, an automatic car wash , may be considered as having limited capacity,
might have room for only 10 cars to wait in line to enter the mechanism.
• A concert ticket sales for students, may be considered as having unlimited capacity,
since there are no limits on the number of students allowed to wait to purchase tickets.
 The Arrival Process
• The arrival process for infinite-population models is usually characterized in terms of
inter-arrival times of successive customers.
• Arrivals may occur at scheduled times or at random times. When at random times, the
inter-arrival times are usually characterized by a probability distribution.
 4.2 Characteristics of Queuing Systems
• The most important model for random arrivals is the Poisson arrival process. If A n
represents the interarrival time between customer n-1 and customer n (A1 is the actual
arrival time of the first customer), then, for a Poisson arrival process A n is exponentially
distributed with mean 1/ʎ time units. The arrival rate is ʎ customers per time unit.
 Queue Behavior and Queue Discipline
• Queue Behavior refers to the actions of customers while in a queue waiting for service to
begin.
• For Example, Leave when they see that the line is too long, leave after being in the line
when they see that the line is moving too slowly, or move from one line to another if
they think they have chosen a slow line.
• Queue discipline refers to the logical ordering of customers in a queue and determines
which customer will be chosen for service when a server becomes free.
• Common queue disciplines include first-in-first-out (FIFO); last-in-first-out (LIFO);
service in random order (SIRO); shortest processing time first (SPT); and service
according to priority (PR).
 4.2 Characteristics of Queuing Systems
 Service Times and the Service Mechanism
• The service times of successive arrivals may be constant or of random duration. Successive
arrivals are usually characterized as a sequence of independent and identically distributed random
variables e.g. exponential, lognormal and normal distributions.
• A queueing system consists of a number of service centers and interconnected queues.
• Each service center consists of some number of servers, c, working in parallel, upon getting to the
head of the line, a customer takes the 1st available server.
• For Example: a discount warehouse where customers may either serve themselves or wait for one
of three clerks, then finally leave after paying a single cashier.
 4.3 Queueing Notation
 Kendall proposed a notational system for parallel server systems which has been widely adopted.
 An abridged version of this convention is based on the format A/B/c/N/K/D.
 Where,
• A represents the interarrival-time distribution.
• B represents the service-time distribution.
• c represents the number of parallel servers.
• N represents the system capacity.
• K represents the size of the calling population.
• D represents queueing discipline
 Common symbols for A and B include M (exponential or Markov), D (constant or
deterministic), Ek (Erlang of order k), PH (phase-type), H (hyper-exponential), G
(arbitrary or general), and Gl (general independent).
 When N and K are infinite, they may be dropped from the notation.
 When the final three parameters are not specified (e.g. M/M /1) , it is assumed N= ∞, K= ∞, and
D=FIFO.
 4.3 Queueing Notation
 Example
• M/M /1/∞/∞
Indicates a single-server system that has unlimited queue capacity and an infinite
population of potential arrivals. The interarrival times and service times are
exponentially distributed.
For example, M/M /1/∞/∞ is often shortened to M/M/1 .
• D/M/1/10/50/LIFO
The inter-arrival times is deterministic and service times is exponentially distributed.
A single-server system that queue length capacity is 10 with finite population of 50
potential arrival.
Queue discipline is Last in First out.
• M/G/3/20
The inter-arrival times is exponentially distributed and service times is general server.
A 3-server system that queue length capacity is 20 with infinite population of potential
arrival.
Queue discipline is First in First out.
 4.4 Types of Queuing Systems
 Single Waiting line Single-
Server Queues
 Calling Population : Finite
or Infinite population

 Single Waiting line

Multiserver Queues
 Calling Population : Finite
or Infinite population

 Multiple Waiting line

Multiserver Queues
• Calling Population : Finite
or Infinite population
 4.5 Application of Queueing System
 It is used in designing and operating transportation systems such as airports, freeways,
ports, and subways
 It is used in evaluating designs for service organizations such as call centers, fast-food
restaurants, hospitals, and post offices.
 An important application of mathematical queueing system is determining the minimum
number of servers needed at a work station or service center.
 It is used in the analysis of service facilities provided by organization
 It is used in the analysis of production and material handling systems
 It is used in the telephone and communications systems.
 It is used in the analysis of telecommunications, computer networks, predicting computer
performance, traffic etc.
 And many other situations where congestion or competition for scarce resources can occur.
 A simulation of queueing system may be used to generate one or more artificial histories of
a complex system.
 4.6 Network of Queues
 Networks of queues are systems in which a number of queues are connected by customer
routing. When a customer is serviced at one node it can join another node and queue for
service, or leave the network.
 A queueing network is a system composed of several interconnected stations, each with a
queue.
 Customers, upon the completion of their service at a station, moves to another station for
additional service or leave the system according some routing rules (deterministic or
probabilistic).
 4.6 Network of Queues
 Many systems are naturally modeled as networks of single queues: customers departing from
one queue may be routed to another.
 The following results assume a stable system with infinite calling population and no limit on
system capacity:
• Provided that no customers are created or destroyed in the queue, then the departure rate
out of a queue is the same as the arrival rate into the queue (over the long run).
• If customers arrive to queue i at rate i , and a fraction 0 ≤ pij ≤ 1of them are routed to
queue j upon departure, then the arrival rate form queue i to queue j is i pij (over the long
run).
• The overall arrival rate into queue j, i , is the sum of the arrival rate from all sources. If
customers arrive from outside the network at rate ai, then

• If queue j has ci<∞ parallel servers, each working at rate µj then the long-run utilization
of each server is  and  < 1 is required for the queue to be stable.
 4.7 Element of Queueing System
The key elements of a queueing system are the customers and servers.
Input Source The Queuing System

Served Jobs
Calling Jobs Service
Queue Mechanism
Population
leave the
system

Arrival Queue Discipline

Process
Service Process
Queue
Configuration
 4.8 Performance of M/M/1 System
 Given: Steady State Performance Measure
: Arrival rate of jobs (packets
on input link)
: Service rate of the server
(output link)

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 4.8 Performance of M/M/1 System
 The M/M/1 queue is stable iff  < or 

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 The Poisson Arrival Process

P(X = k) = t ke- t

k!
Where
 = mean arrival rate per time unit.
t = the length of the interval.
e = 2.7182818 (the base of the natural logarithm).
k! = k (k -1) (k -2) (k -3) … (3) (2) (1).

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The Exponential Service Time Distribution

f(t) = e-t
 = the average number of customers
who can be served per time period.
Therefore, 1/ = the mean service time.

The probability that the service time X is less than some “t.”
P(X t) = 1 - e-t

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 George’s HARDWARE – Arrival Process
 Customers arrive at George’s Hardware according to a Poisson distribution. Between 8:00 and
9:00 A.M. an average of 6 customers arrive at the store. What is the probability that k
customers will arrive between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning (k = 0, 1, 2,…)?
 Solution:
• Input to the Poisson distribution
= 6 customers per hour.
t = 0.5 hour.
t = (6)(0.5) = 3.

• Put K= 0, 1, 2, 3,…..in above equation.

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George’s Hardware – An illustration of the Poisson distribution

• Input to the Poisson

distribution
 = 6 customers per hour.
t = 0.5 hour.
t = (6)(0.5) = 3.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
102k3

P(X = 1k23 )= t e- t

 0.224042
0.149361
0.049787
0.224042
k2!
3!!

1!
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 Examples of Real World Queuing Systems
 Commercial Queuing Systems
• Commercial organizations serving external customers
• Ex. Dentist, bank, ATM, gas stations, plumber, garage …
• Transportation service systems
• Vehicles are customers or servers
• Ex. Vehicles waiting at toll stations and traffic lights, trucks or ships waiting to be loaded,
taxi cabs, fire engines, elevators, buses …
 Business-internal service systems
• Customers receiving service are internal to the organization providing the service
• Ex. Inspection stations, conveyor belts, computer support …
 Social service systems
• Ex. Judicial process, the ER at a hospital, waiting lists for organ transplants or student dorm
rooms …
Model Queuing System
Thank You
???