Mean Value Analysis Approximation for Multiple Server Queueing Networks

An approximation of mean value analysis is presented for queueing networks containing multiple server stations. The approximation is based on the estimation of the conditional marginal probabilities used by the mean residence time formula in mean value analysis. A comparison against classical mean value analysis allows us to determine the accuracy of our algorithm. In all investigated network models, the approximate results vary from the exact results by less than four percent on the average. This approximation method has all the advantages of classical mean value analysis; specifically, it is easy to implement and has a very short run time.