Chapter Eight

Waiting Line Analysis

Topics
1. Introduction
2. Kenedal’s Notation
3. Queuing Models
4. Examples
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 Introduction
What is Queuing Theory?
• Queue: a line of waiting customers who require service from
one or more service providers.
• Waiting lines are common situations both in manufacturing
and service area
• Queuing system: waiting room + customers + service provider

Customers
Queue Server
2 Queuing System
 Population of Arrivals Queue Service Exit the system
dirty cars from the (waiting line) facility
general
population …
Car Wash

Enter Exit

Arrivals to the system In the system Exit the system

Arrival Characteristics Waiting Line Service Characteristics
 Size of the population Characteristics  Service design
 Behavior of arrivals  Limited vs.  Statistical distribution
 Statistical distribution unlimited of service
of arrivals  Queue discipline

Examples for queuing elements

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 Customer n

Arrival Begin End

event service service
Delay Activity
Time

Interarrival
Arrival Begin End
event service service
Delay Activity

Time

Customer n+1
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• When a customer leaves a waiting line, the opportunity to
make a profit by providing the service is lost.
• The decision maker is now faced with a question of
balancing:
 opportunity cost against
 the expense of additional capacity.
• Queuing theory is first developed by Agner Krarup Erlang
(1878- 1929)

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6
 The Output or Service Process
• Servers can be in parallel or in series.
• Servers are in parallel if all servers provide the
same type of service and a customer only passes
through one server to complete service.
A Parallel
B Servers

• Servers are inQueue

series if a customer must pass
through several servers before completing service.

A B

Queue Servers in Series

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  Queuing system designs
 Single-channel system, multiple-channel system
 Single-phase system, multiphase system

Queue
Service Departures
Arrivals facility
after service

Single-channel, single-phase system

Queue
Phase 2
Phase 1
service Departures
Arrivals service
facility facility
after service
Single-channel, multiphase system

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 Service
facility
Channel 1
Queue
Service
Arrivals facility Departures
Channel 2 after service
Service
facility
Channel 3

Multi-channel, single-phase system

Phase 1 Phase 2
service service
facility facility
Queue Channel 1 Channel 1

Arrivals Departures
Phase 1
service
Phase 2
service
after service
facility facility
Channel 2 Channel 2

9 Multi-channel, multiphase system

 Queuing Models
• Widely used to estimate desired performance
measures of the system
 Typical measures
 Server utilization
 Length of waiting lines
 Delays of customers
• Applications
 Determine the minimum number of servers needed at a
service center
 Detection of performance bottleneck or congestion
 Evaluate alternative system designs

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 Analysis of queue systems
• In general, queuing analysis are used to find out more about:
 the waiting time of customers,
 the queue length,
 the number of service facilities, and
 the busy period.
• Information from the analysis (models) would help to take
action either to reschedule the arrivals or to change the type
and number of service facilities

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 • Given:
• l: Arrival rate (mean) of customers (jobs)
(packets on input link)
• m: Service rate (mean) of the server
(output link)
• Solve:
– Ls: average number in queuing system
– Lq average number in the queue
– Ws: average waiting time in whole system
12 – Wq average waiting time in the queue ~ “1/m”
 M/M/1 queue model

L
Lq

l
m
1
Wq 

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 Characteristics of queuing systems
Kendall Notation 1/2/3: 4/5/6)
1 = arrival (inter arrival) distribution
2 = departure (or service time) distribution

3 = number of parallel service channels in the system

4 = service discipline
5 = maximum number of customers allowed in the
system

6 = Calling source of population

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 The Kendall’s Notation for Queuing Systems
• Standard notation used to describe many queuing
systems.
• Each queuing system is described by six
characters:1/2/3:4/5/6
1 = nature of the arrival process: Arrivals(customers) and inter-arrival
times
The following standard abbreviations are used:
M = Inter-arrival times are independent, identically distributed
(iid) and exponentially distributed
D = Inter-arrival times are iid and deterministic
Ek = Inter-arrival times are iid, Erlangs with shape parameter k.
GD = Inter-arrival times are iid and governed by some
general distribution
Note: Inter-arrival times can be constant (deterministic) or known
15 with probabilities.
 • Arrivals: the number of customers arrive to the system per
unit of time
– Mostly described by Poisson distribution
• Inter-arrival time: the period between two successive arrivals.

– Mostly described by exponential distribution

• We usually take average values for both.
• i.e, average number of arrivals per unit of time = arrival rate
= ʎ (Say 10 customers/hr)
– Average (mean) inter-arrival time = 1/ ʎ =
0.5minutes/customer
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2 = the nature of the service times:
M = Service times are iid and exponentially distributed
D = Service times are iid and deterministic

Ek = Service times are iid Erlangs with shape parameter k.

GD = Service times are iid and governed by some general

distribution
• Service times can be constant or random (can be known with probabilities)
• Service rate = µ
 The rate at which one service channel can perform the service
 The number of customers served per unit of time
(eg. 5 customers served per hour, thus Service rate = µ = 5customers per
hour)
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 3 = the service channel, i.e., number of parallel servers.
– Single server model (c = 1) or multiple server model (c= 0,1,…)

4 = service discipline
– The rule by which customers are selected from the queue for
service
– FCFS = First come, first served
– LCFS = Last come, first served
– SIRO = Service in random order
– Priority = arriving customer is chosen for service ahead of some
other customers already in the queue.
• Pre-emptive priority: A unit customer not merely goes to the head of the
queue, but displaces any unit already being served when it arrives.
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5 = maximum allowable number of customers in the system.
 Maximum No of customers in the system can be finite or
infinite.
 Finite: limited space – only a limited number of customers
are allowed in the system and new arriving customers are
not allowed to join the system unless the number becomes
less than the limiting value.
6 = the size of the population from which customers are drawn.
 Finite source (N): few potential customers, usually < 40
 Infinite source (∞): large number of potential customers
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 Example
The model (M/D/1) : ( FIFO/N/∞) uses :
 Poisson arrival,
 Constant service time or deterministic service time
 1 servers,
 The queue discipline is First come first served,
 There is a limit of N customers in the entire system, and
 The size of the source from which customers arrive is
infinite.

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 • M/E2/8: FCFS/10/∞ might represent:
– exponential inter-arrival times,
– two-phase Erlang service times,

– a health clinic with 8 doctors,

– a FCFS service discipline, and a
– total capacity of 10 patients.

– Infinite potential customers

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 Customer’s Behavior
• If a customer decides not to enter the queue since it is too long, s/he is said to have
balked.
• If a customer enters the queue, but after sometimes loses a patience and leaves it,
he is said to have reneged.
• When there are two or more parallel queues and the customers move from one
queue to the other, they are said to be jockeying.
Service system
Waiting
Arrival customers Queuing
In
Input process Queuing discipline Service Departure
Source process process Serviced
customers
Balk Renege Jockey

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 Operating Characteristics of a Queuing System
• Queue Length (Lq) – the average number of customers in the queue waiting to get
service. It doesn’t include the customer(s) being served.
• System Length (Ls) – the average number of customers in the system: those in queue
+ those being served
• Waiting time in the queue (Wq) – the average time for which a customer has to wait
in the queue to get service.
• Total time in the system (Ws) – the average total time spent by a customer in the
system from the moment s/he arrives till s/he leaves the system.
 Waiting time in queue + service time
• Utilization factor (ρ) – is the proportion of time a server actually spends with the
customer.
 Also called traffic intensity
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