Authors:
Herwig Bruneel
;
Willem Mélange
;
Bart Steyaert
;
Dieter Claeys
and
Joris Walraevens
Affiliation:
Ghent University-UGent, Belgium
Keyword(s):
Queueing model, Blocking, Class clustering.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Mathematical Modeling
;
Methodologies and Technologies
;
Operational Research
;
Queuing Theory
;
Stochastic Processes
Abstract:
In this paper, situations are investigated where customers requiring different types of service, each provided
by distinct servers, are accommodated in one common queue. In such scenarios, customers of one class (i.e.,
requiring a given type of service) may be hindered (“blocked”) by customers of other classes. For instance, if
a road or a highway is split in two or more subroads leading to different destinations, cars on that road heading
for destination A may be hindered or even blocked by cars heading for destination B, even when the subroad
leading to destination A is free, simply because they have to queue in first-come-first-served (FCFS) order on
the main road.
The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of blocking. We therefore develop a discrete-time queueing
model and establish performance measures related to the number of waiting customers. Based on the obtained
results, we demonstrate that clustering of arrivals according to class pronounces the negative impact of b
locking.
We believe that the impact of class clustering on blocking has been largely overlooked in the regular
operations research and queueing literature.
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