Queueing networks constitute a large family of stochastic models, involving jobs that enter a network, compete for service, and eventually leave the network upon completion of service. Since the early 1990s, substantial attention has been devoted to the question of when such networks are stable. This volume presents a summary of such work. Emphasis is placed on the use of fluid models in showing stability, and on examples of queueing networks that are unstable even when the arrival rate is less than the service rate. The material of this volume is based on a series of nine lectures given at the Saint-Flour Probability Summer School 2006. Lectures were also given by Alice Guionnet and Steffen Lauritzen.

A graduate text on theory and methods using applied probability techniques for scheduling service, manufacturing, and information networks.

The book examines the performance and optimization of systems where queueing and congestion are important constructs. Both finite and infinite queueing systems are examined. Many examples and case studies are utilized to indicate the breadth and depth of the queueing systems and their range of applicability. Blocking of these processes is very important and the book shows how to deal with this problem in an effective way and not only compute the performance measures of throughput, cycle times, and WIP but also to optimize the resources within these systems. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduate, graduate, and professionals and academics interested in network design, queueing performance models and their optimization. It assumes that the audience is fairly sophisticated in their mathematical understanding, although the explanations of the topics within the book are fairly detailed.

This accessible book aims to collect in a single volume the essentials of stochastic networks. Stochastic networks have become widely used as a basic model of many physical systems in a diverse range of fields. Written by leading authors in the field, this book is meant to be used as a reference or supplementary reading by practitioners in operations research, computer systems, communications networks, production planning, and logistics.

This handbook aims to highlight fundamental, methodological and computational aspects of networks of queues to provide insights and to unify results that can be applied in a more general manner. The handbook is organized into five parts: Part 1 considers exact analytical results such as of product form type. Topics include characterization of product forms by physical balance concepts and simple traffic flow equations, classes of service and queue disciplines that allow a product form, a unified description of product forms for discrete time queueing networks, insights for insensitivity, and aggregation and decomposition results that allow sub networks to be aggregated into single nodes to reduce computational burden. Part 2 looks at monotonicity and comparison results such as for computational simplification by either of two approaches: stochastic monotonicity and ordering results based on the ordering of the process generators, and comparison results and explicit error bounds based on an underlying Markov reward structure leading to ordering of expectations of performance measures. Part 3 presents diffusion and fluid results. It specifically looks at the fluid regime and the diffusion regime. Both of these are illustrated through fluid limits for the analysis of system stability, diffusion approximations for multi-server systems, and a system fed by Gaussian traffic. Part 4 illustrates computational and approximate results through the classical MVA (mean value analysis) and QNA (queueing network analyzer) for computing mean and variance of performance measures such as queue lengths and sojourn times; numerical approximation of response time distributions; and approximate decomposition results for large open queueing networks. spanPart 5 enlightens selected applications as spanloss networks originating from circuit switched telecommunications applications, capacity sharing originating from packet switching in data networks, and a hospital application that is of growing present day interest. spanThe book shows that spanthe intertwined progress of theory and practicespan will remain to be most intriguing and will continue to be the basis of further developments in queueing networks.

Two of the most exciting topics of current research in stochastic networks are the complementary subjects of stability and rare events - roughly, the former deals with the typical behavior of networks, and the latter with significant atypical behavior. Both are classical topics, of interest since the early days of queueing theory, that have experienced renewed interest mo tivated by new applications to emerging technologies. For example, new stability issues arise in the scheduling of multiple job classes in semiconduc tor manufacturing, the so-called "re-entrant lines;" and a prominent need for studying rare events is associated with the design of telecommunication systems using the new ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology so as to guarantee quality of service. The objective of this volume is hence to present a sample - by no means comprehensive - of recent research problems, methodologies, and results in these two exciting and burgeoning areas. The volume is organized in two parts, with the first part focusing on stability, and the second part on rare events. But it is impossible to draw sharp boundaries in a healthy field, and inevitably some articles touch on both issues and several develop links with other areas as well. Part I is concerned with the issue of stability in queueing networks.

The stability analysis of stochastic models for telecommunication systems is an intensively studied topic. The analysis is, as a rule, a difficult problem requiring a refined mathematical technique, especially when one endeavors beyond the framework of Markovian models. The primary purpose of this book is to present, in a unified way, research into the stability analysis of a wide variety of regenerative queueing systems. It describes the theoretical foundations of this method, and then shows how it works with particular models, both classic ones as well as more recent models that have received attention. The focus lies on an in-depth and insightful mathematical explanation of the regenerative stability analysis method. The unique volume can serve as a textbook for students working in these and related scientific areas. The material is also of interest to engineers working in telecommunications field, who may be faced with the problem of stability of queueing systems.

Written with students and professors in mind, Analysis of Queues: Methods and Applications combines coverage of classical queueing theory with recent advances in studying stochastic networks. Exploring a broad range of applications, the book contains plenty of solved problems, exercises, case studies, paradoxes, and numerical examples. In addition to the standard single-station and single class discrete queues, the book discusses models for multi-class queues and queueing networks as well as methods based on fluid scaling, stochastic fluid flows, continuous parameter Markov processes, and quasi-birth-and-death processes, to name a few. It describes a variety of applications including computer-communication networks, information systems, production operations, transportation, and service systems such as healthcare, call centers and restaurants.

Modeling Uncertainty: An Examination of Stochastic Theory, Methods, and Applications, is a volume undertaken by the friends and colleagues of Sid Yakowitz in his honor. Fifty internationally known scholars have collectively contributed 30 papers on modeling uncertainty to this volume. Each of these papers was carefully reviewed and in the majority of cases the original submission was revised before being accepted for publication in the book. The papers cover a great variety of topics in probability, statistics, economics, stochastic optimization, control theory, regression analysis, simulation, stochastic programming, Markov decision process, application in the HIV context, and others. There are papers with a theoretical emphasis and others that focus on applications. A number of papers survey the work in a particular area and in a few papers the authors present their personal view of a topic. It is a book with a considerable number of expository articles, which are accessible to a nonexpert - a graduate student in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and economics departments, or just anyone with some mathematical background who is interested in a preliminary exposition of a particular topic. Many of the papers present the state of the art of a specific area or represent original contributions which advance the present state of knowledge. In sum, it is a book of considerable interest to a broad range of academic researchers and students of stochastic systems.

A comprehensive guide to the concepts and applications of queuing theory and traffic theory Network Traffic Engineering: Models and Applications provides an advanced level queuing theory guide for students with a strong mathematical background who are interested in analytic modeling and performance assessment of communication networks. The text begins with the basics of queueing theory before moving on to more advanced levels. The topics covered in the book are derived from the most cutting-edge research, project development, teaching activity, and discussions on the subject. They include applications of queuing and traffic theory in: LTE networks Wi-Fi networks Ad-hoc networks Automated vehicles Congestion control on the Internet The distinguished author seeks to show how insight into practical and real-world problems can be gained by means of quantitative modeling. Perfect for graduate students of computer engineering, computer science, telecommunication engineering, and electrical engineering, Network Traffic Engineering offers a supremely practical approach to a rapidly developing field of study and industry.