Queuing Systems: Lecture 3
Amedeo R. Odoni
October 17, 2001
Lecture Outline
? M/M/1: finite system capacity, K
? M/M/m: finite system capacity, K
? M/M/m: finite system capacity, K=m
? Related observations and extensions
? M/E2/1 example
? M/G/1: epochs and transition probabilities
? M/G/1: derivation of L
? Why M/G/m, G/G/1, etc. are difficult
M/M/1: finite system capacity, K; 
customers finding system full are lost
…0 1 2 K-1 K
l l l l l
mmm m m
KnforP K
n
n .....,,2,1,01
)1(
1 =?
??=
+r
rr
? Steady state is always reached
? Be careful in applying Little’s Law! Must count only the 
customers who actually join the system:
)1( KP??=′ ll
M/M/m: finite system capacity, K; 
customers finding system full are lost
0 1 2 m m+1 K-1
l l l l l l
3m2mm mm mm mm
K
l
mmmm
l
…… ……
? Can write system balance equations and obtain 
closed form expressions for Pn, L, W, Lq, Wq
? Often useful in practice
M/M/m: finite system capacity, m; 
special case!
……0 1 2 m-1 m
l l l l l
3m2mm (m-1)m mm
mnfor
i
nP
m
i
i
n
n ,...2,1,0
!
)(
!
)(
0
==
∑
=
m
l
m
l
? Probability of full system, Pm, is “Erlang’s loss formula”
? Exactly same expression for Pn of M/G/m system with K=m
M/M/¥ (infinite no. of servers)
…0 1 2 m-1 m m+1
l l l l l l l
3m2mm (m-1)m mm (m+1}m (m+2)m
…
,.....2,1,0!
)(
)(
=
?
=
?
nforn
e
P
n
n
m
l
m
l
? N is Poisson distributed!
? L = l / m ; W = 1 / m ; Lq = 0; Wq = 0
? Many applications
Variations and extensions of 
birth-and-death queuing systems
? Huge number of extensions on the previous 
models
? Most common is arrival rates and service 
rates that depend on state of the system; 
some lead to closed-form expressions
? Systems which are not birth-and-death, but 
can be modeled by continuous time, discrete 
state Markov processes can also be 
analyzed
? State representation is the key (e.g. M/Ek/1)
M/G/1: Background
? Poisson arrivals; rate l
? General service times, S; fS(s); E[S]=1/m; sS
? Infinite queue capacity
? The system is NOT a continuous time Markov 
process (most of the time “it has memory”)
? We can, however, identify certain instants of time 
(“epochs”) at which all we need to know is the 
number of customers in the system to determine 
the probability that at the next epoch there will be 
0, 1, 2, …, n customers in the system
? Epochs = instants immediately following the 
completion of a service
M/G/1: Transition probabilities for 
system states at epochs (1)
N = number of customers in the system at a random 
epoch, i.e., just after a service has been completed
N' = number of customers in the system at the 
immediately following epoch
R = number of new customers arriving during the 
service time of the first customer to be served after 
an epoch
N' = N + R – 1 if N > 0
N' = R if N = 0
? Note: make sure to understand how R is defined
Epochs and the value of R
t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t
N Between t1 and t2, R=2
Between t5 and t6, R=0
M/G/1: Transition probabilities for 
system states at epochs (2)
? Transition probabilities can be written in 
terms of the probabilities:
P[number of new arrivals during a service 
time = r] =
? Can now draw a state transition diagram 
at epochs
,...2,1,0)()(!)(0 =???= ∫∞
?
rfortdtfr et S
tr
r
ll
a
A Critical Observation
? The probabilities P[N=n] of having n customers 
in the system at a random epoch are equal to 
the steady state probabilities, Pn, of having n 
customers in the system at any random time
? The PASTA property: “Poisson arrivals see 
time averages”
? Can now use same argument as for M/M/1 
system to write:
P0 = 1- l / m and  E[B] = 1/(m – l)
? Can also derive closed-form expressions for L, 
W, Lq and Wq
Expected values for M/G/1
)1()1(2
222
<? ?++= rrslrr SL
)1(2
222
r
slr
?
?+= S
qL
)1(2
1 222
rl
slr
m ?
?++= SW
2
)1(
)1(
1
)1(2
)1(
)1(2
222222 SSS
q
CCW +?
??=?
+=
?
?+=
r
r
mrl
r
rl
slr
SSS SECNote sm
s ?==
][:



