A.

STEPS IN QUEUING ANALYSIS

Queuing Process refers to the number of

queues and their respective lengths. The number of
queues single, multiple or priority queues depends
upon the layout of a service system. The length
(size) of the queue depends upon the operational
situation such as physical space, legal restrictions
and attitude of the customers.

Components of a Basic Queuing Process:

a. The calling population

i. The population from which customers/jobs originate
ii. The size can be finite or infinite (the latter is most common)
iii. Can be homogeneous (only one type of customers/ jobs) or heterogeneous
(several different kinds of customers/jobs)
b. The Arrival Process
i. Determines how, when and where customer/jobs arrive to the system
ii. Important characteristic is the customers’/jobs’ inter-arrival times
iii. To correctly specify the arrival process requires data collection of interarrival
times and statistical analysis.
c. The queue configuration
i. Specifies the number of queues
1. Single or multiple lines to a number of service stations
ii. Their location
iii. Their effect on customer behavior
1. Balking and reneging
iv. Their maximum size (# of jobs the queue can hold)
1. Distinction between infinite and finite capacity
General Steps of Queuing Model Analysis

B. STRUCTURE OF A QUEUING ANALYSIS

Queue Structure is the crucial element of a queuing system, as it shows the queue
discipline, which means the order in which the customers are picked from the queue
for the service. Simply, the way the customer is selected from the waiting line for
service is shown by the queue structure.

a. Source Population / Calling Population

i. It is the source of customers to the queuing system and it can be either

infinite or finite.

ii. The key difference between an “infinite” and “finite” population model
is how the arrival process is defined.
 iii. An infinite calling population assumes a large number of potential
customers and there is always room for one more potential customer to
be served. Usually, the system is viewed as an “open system”. (Ex.
grocery stores, banks and malls). In this system, arrival rate is not
affected by the number of customers in the system. Most queuing
systems assume that the population is infinite.

iv. A finite calling population has a specific number of potential

customers. Usually the system is viewed as a “closed system”. (Ex.
nurse assigned to attend a specific number of patients or a garage
repair shop that only has a certain number of machines that can be
worked on). In this system, arrival rate depends on the number of
customers being served and waiting.

v. The calling population can also be homogenous (only one type of

customer/job) or heterogeneous (several different kinds of
customers/jobs).

b. Arrival Process / Size of Arrival Units

i. How customers arrive e.g. singly or in groups (batch or bulk arrivals)

ii. How the arrivals are distributed in time (e.g. what is the probability
distribution of time between successive arrivals (the interarrival time
distribution))
iii. For infinite population
1. inter-arrival time characterized by a random distribution, e.g.
Poisson distribution
2. scheduled arrivals, such as patients to a physician's office;
airline flight arrives at an airport. The interarrival time may be
a constant, or a constant with a small random fluctuation.
3. at least one customer is assumed to always be present in the
queue, so the server is never idle because of the lack of the
customers, e.g. parts in an assembly line.
 iv. For finite population:
1. Define a customer is pending when it is outside the queueing
system, and it is a member of the potential calling population.
E.g. when simulating a local area network, if a particular
computer is powered off, we say it is pending. As soon as it is
powered on, the customer (computer) will demand service from
the network.
2. Define runtime of a given customer as the length of the time
from departure from the queueing system until the customer's
next arrival to the queue. Runtime essentially is the time when
the customer is being serviced.
v. The arrival rate in a finite population model is a function of the number
of pending customers.

c. Control of Arrivals / Patterns

The Arrival pattern

Arrivals can be measured as Me arrival rate or the interarrival time (time between
arrivals).

Interarrival time = 17 arrival rate

These quantities may be deterministic or stochastic (given by a probability

distribution)

Arrivals may also come in batches of multiple customers, which is called batch or
bulk arrivals. The batch size may be either deterministic or stochastic.
Pattern of arrivals at the System:

Passengers either arrive at a service facility according to some known schedule (in our
case, 13.361 regular passengers every 95 minutes or 0.140

Passenger every one minute) or else they arrive randomly. Arrivals are considered
random when they are independent of one another and their occurrence cannot be predicted
exactly. Frequently in queuing problems, the number of arrivals per unit of time can be
estimated by a probability distribution known as the Poisson distribution .For any given
arrival rate, such as two passengers per hour, or four airplanes per minute , a discrete Poisson
distribution can be established by using the formula

Queue discipline is a management policy applied

to select the next person from a lot of people in the
queue for service.

Applications include the following:

1. First-come, first served (FCFS) is the

most popular of all

2. It is static with no information

3. Dynamic queue disciplines

4. Egalitarian approach is applied to serving waiting customers

Shortest Processing Time

Shortest-processing time (SPT) is an important strategy to

use for customers who require quick or faster service.

Cµ Priority Rule

A more sophisticated dynamic queue discipline is the cµ priority rule.

“c” is a linear delay cost rate.

“µ” is the rate of customers served per unit time.

“cµ” leads to social optimization.

This rule gives priority to customers based on their cµ index

High cost and short service time moves to the front of

the queue

Triage Procedure

Triage is used to decide the order of treatment of a large

number of patients in hospitals

It is used to give priority to those who would benefit most from

immediate treatment

Usually seen in emergency services such as fire or ambulance

services
Preemptive Priority Rule

Preemptive priority rule is the most responsive queue discipline

rule.

Under this rule, service is prioritized with interruptions.

It means a nurse or doctor can stop treating a patient and attend

to serve a newly arrived person.

Round Robin Service

Customers share the service provider by alternating between

waiting and being served

Demanding Type of Queues

a. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

b. Custom and Border Protection (CBP)
c. Used to decongest traffic at airports and borders.
d. If TSA determines a passenger is eligible for expedited
screening, information is embedded in the barcode of his or her
boarding pass.

Expedited Screening

FTA strategizes to improve the public transportation system.

High-occupancy vehicle (HOV)

i. concept used to improve buses lanes and diffuse traffic

ii. restricted traffic lane reserved at peak travel times or
longer for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver
and one or more passengers, including carpools,
vanpools, and transit buses.
 d. Statistical Distribution of Arrivals

It represents the pattern in which the number of customers arrive at the

service facility.

i. Walk-in Service Time and Second Service Times are skewed.

ii. Appointment Service Time is comparatively normal.

The Poisson process

 it can be used to model the number of occurrences of events

 it gives the probabilities for the number of events taking place in the given time
period
The Poisson process has the following properties:

1. It is made up of a sequence of random variables X1, X2, X3, …Xk such that each

variable represents the number of occurrences of some event, such as patients walking into
an ER, during some interval of time.

2. It is a stochastic process. Each time you run the Poisson process, it will produce a
different sequence of random outcomes as per some probability distribution which we will
soon see.

3. It is a discrete process. The Poisson process’s outcomes are the number of

occurrences of some event in the specified period of time, which is undoubtedly an integer
—i.e. a discrete number.

4. It has independent increments. What this is means is that the number of events that
the process predicts will occur in any given interval, is independent of the number in any
other disjoint interval. For e.g. the number of people walking into the ER from time zero
(start of the observation) up through 10am, is independent of the number walking in from
3:33pm to 8:26pm, or from 11:00pm to 11:05pm and so on.

5. The Poisson process’s constituent variables X1, X2, X3,…Xk all have identical

distribution.

6. The Poisson process’s constituent variables X1, X2, X3,…Xk all have a Poisson

distribution, which is given by the Probability Mass Function:
Example:

For any given arrival time (such as 2 customers per hour or 4 trucks per minute), a discrete
Poisson distribution can be established by using the formula:

Illustrates the Poisson distribution for λ = 2 and λ = 4. This means that if the average arrival
rate is λ = 2 customers per hour, the probability of 0 customers arriving in any random hour is
about 13%, probability of 1 customer is about 27%, 2 customers about 27%, 3 customers
about 18%, 4 customers about 9%, and so on. The chances that 9 or more will arrive are
virtually nil. Arrivals, of course, are not always Poisson distributed (they may follow some
other distribution). Patterns, therefore, should be examined to make certain that they are well
approximated by Poisson before that distribution is applied.