Queueing Networks with Blocking: Analysis, Solution Algorithms and Properties

Queueing network models with finite capacity queues and blocking are used for modeling and performance evaluation of systems with finite resources and population constraints, such as communication and computer systems, traffic, production and manufacturing systems. Various blocking types can be defined to represent different system behaviors, network protocols and technologies. Queueing networks with blocking are difficult to analyze, except for the special class of product-form networks. Most of the analytical methods proposed in literature provide an approximate solution with a limited computational cost. This tutorial introduces queueing networks with finite capacity queues and blocking, the main solution techniques for their analysis and some network properties. We introduce exact and approximate algorithms for quantitative evaluation of open and closed networks with blocking. We present the conditions under which exact solutions can be derived and some criteria for the appropriate selection of approximate solution method. We present some equivalence properties that relate different types of blocking types that ca be applied for model analysis of heterogeneous networks. We provide some application examples of this class of models to communication networks and distributed computer systems.