Queuing Models

A flow of customers from infinite/finite population towards service facility forms a queue (waiting line )on account of lack of capability to serve them all at a time . Normally, the queue does not include the customer being serviced . The customers may be people , machines , ships etc.

Terminologies
Arrival Rate: The rate at which, customers arrive to be serviced ; is randomly distributed according to Poisson distribution. Mean value of arrival rate : Service Rate :The rate at which one service channel can perform the required customer service ;is randomly distributed according to exponential distribution . Mean value of service rate :

Single Queue
Service

facility Served Customers Single Queue, Single Server

Service facility - 1
Served Customers

Served Customers Service facility - 2

Single Queue, Multiple Server

Notations
E(m) : Average No of customers waiting in the queue . E(n) : Average No of customers in the system . E(v) : Average waiting time of a customer in the queue . E (w) : Average waiting time of a customer in the system . Pn : probability that there are n customers in the system

Classification
(a/b/c) ; (d,e)
a: Type of distribution for arrival b : Type of distribution for service c : No. of servers d : capacity of the system e : queue discipline

Size of Calling Population

Infinite :When the no. of arrivals on hand at any given moment is just a small portion of potential arrivals. ex: Cars arriving at a highway tollbooth ; shoppers arriving at a supermarket Finite :When this is not the case . ex:A shop with only 8 machines that might breakdown and require service .

Pattern of Arrival
Customers either arrive at a service facility according to some known schedule (one patient in every 15 minutes ). Arrivals are random when they are independent of one another and their occurrence can not be predicted exactly . Frequently , in queuing problems , the number of arrivals /unit of time can be estimated by probability distribution Poisson distribution . For any given arrival rate , such as two customers/hour : P(X)= (e - x ) / X! For X=0,1,2,3.. Where, P(X)= Prob. Of X arrivals X = No. of arrivals /Unit time = average arrival rate If the average arrival rate is =2customers/hour Prob. Of 0 customers arriving in any random hour is about 13% Prob. Of 1 ,, 27% Prob of 2 ,, 27% Prob of 3 ,, 18% Prob of 4 ,, 9% and so on . Prob of 9 or more ,, virtually nil .

Service Time Distribution

They may be constant or Random. If the service time is constant , it takes same amount of time to take care of each customer Automatic car wash . More often , service times are randomly distributed . In many cases , it can be assumed that random service times are negative exponential probability distribution . Probability (Service time longer than X minutes) =e -x for X 0 where, =Average No. served/minute . For ex: when an average service time is 20 minutes , seldom if ever will a customer require more than 90 minutes in the service facility .