Queuing Theory

 Concept related to Queue

 A flow of customers from finite or

infinite population towards service
facility
Queuing System Examples
System Customers Servers
Grocery Store Shoppers Checkout Clerks
Phone System Phone Calls Switching Equipment
Toll Highway Vehicles Tollgate
Restaurant Parties of Diners Tables & Waitstaff
Factory Products Workers
Basic Definitions
 Customer: The arriving unit to get service
atr service facility. Customers can be person
or machines or phone calls

 Queue: Waiting Line- The number of

customers waiting to be serviced
 Service Facility: The place where
customers get his/ her service done.

 Waiting time: The time spent by a

customer in a queue.
General Structure of Queuing System

Oooooooo Leaving
 0000 Service facility
Queue customers
Elements of Queuing System
 2. Arrival process
 Source of queuing system can be finite or infinite

 Single or batch or bulk arrivals

 At regular or random time
 Arrival Process follows Poisson distribution
 Arrival rate be λ customers per unit time
 Queuing Theory Variables
 Lambda ( λ ) is the average
arrival rate
of people or items into the
service system.

 It can be expressed in
seconds, minutes, hours, or
days.

 From the Greek small letter

“ L “.
Elements of Queuing System
 1. Service System
 Can be explained by two things-
 Structure of service system
 Speed of service
 Service system follows Exponential distribution
 Service rate be µ customers per unit time
 Queuing Theory Variables
 Mu ( μ ) is the average
service rate of the service
system.

 It can be expressed as the

number of people or items
processed per second,
minute, hour, or day.

 From the Greek small letter

“ M “.
Structure of Service System
 Single server, single queue model

 Multiple, parallel servers ,single queue model

 Multiple, parallel servers, multiple queues model

 Multiple servers in series

Speed of service
 Either measured by service rate or service
time
 Service Rate: Describes the number of
customized services during a particular
period of time
 Service time: Indicates the amount of time
needed to service a customer
Example-
 If a cashier can attend on the average 10
customers in an hour, the service rate would
be 10 customers per hour and service time
would be 60/10 = 6 minutes per customer.
Elements of Queuing System
 3. Queue Structure
 The order by which the customers are picked up
from the waiting line for service
 FCFS (First Come First Serve)
 LCFS (Last Come First Serve)
 SIRO (Selection in random Order)
 Priority Service
Customer Behavior
 Customer reaction when entering the queue
or system

 A customer decided to enter or wait, no matter how

long the queue is

 A customer decides not to enter in the queue because

of its huge length, known as balking
 A customer may enter the queue, but after
some time, lose patience and decided to
leave, known as Reneging

 When there are two or more queues,

customers may move from one queue to
another for its personal benefits, known as
Jockeying
Operating Characteristics
 Queue Length: The average number of customers in the
queue waiting to get service

 System Length: Average number of customers in

system, those waiting to be and those being serviced.

 Waiting time in a queue: Average time wait in queue to

get service
Operating Characteristics
 Total time in System: Customer spends in
system from entry to exit (Waiting + Service
time)
 Server Idle Time: The time when there s o
customer for service
Numerical notations
 Arrival rate be λ customers per unit time
 Service rate be µ customers per unit time

 If λ > µ Waiting line shall be formed

 If λ ≤ µ No waiting time

 λ/µ = ρ (Average utilization or traffic intensity or service

facility would be busy)
 1- ρ (the service facility would be idle)
Queuing Theory Variables
 Rho ( ρ ) is the % of time
that the service facility is
busy on the average.
 It is also known as the
utilization rate.
 From the Greek small letter
“ R “.

“BUSY” IS DEFINED AS AT LEAST ONE

PERSON OR ITEM IN THE SYSTEM
 If ρ >1 ; λ/µ >1 implies λ > µ which means waiting line
will be formed

 If ρ ≤ 1 ; λ/µ ≤ 1 implies λ ≤ µ which means there is

no waiting line
Poisson-Exponential, single server
 Arrival rate be λ customers per unit time
 Probability that n customers will arrive in the system during
a given interval T, given by

P(n customers during period T) = (e -m

mx)/ x!

Where m= λ T and e= 2.7183

 Poisson Arrival Distribution
P
( probability )

.25
Poisson
.20 Probability
Distribution
.15 for
λ=2
(estimated mean arrival rate)
.10

.05

.00 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 X ( the number of arrivals )

 Poisson Arrival Distribution
P
( probability )

.25
Poisson
.20 Probability
Distribution
.15 for
λ=4
(estimated mean arrival rate)
.10

.05

.00 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 X ( the number of arrivals )

Example
 On an average, 5 customers reach a barber’s
shop every hour. Determine the probability
that exactly 2 customers will reach in a 30-
minute period, assuming that the arrivals
follow Poisson distribution.
 Solution
Λ = 5 customers per hour
T= 30 minutes = 0.5 hr
M= λ T = 5 x 0.5 = 2.5 customers
P (X=2) = P(2 customers ) = e -2.5 (2.5)2 / 2! = 0.257

25.7% chances that 2 customers will arrive in a 30 min period

Example
The manager of a bank observes that, on the
average 18 customers are served by a
cashier in an hour. Assuming that the service
time has an exponential distribution, what is
the probability that
 (i) a customer shall be free within 3 mins
 (ii) a customer shall be serviced in more than
12 mins
 Solution
µ = 18 customers per hour
(i) T= 3 minutes = 0.05 hr

P (no more than T time period needed to serve

a customer) = 1 – e- µT

P(less than 3 mins) = 1 – e (-0.05)(18) =

0.593
 Solution
µ = 18 customers per hour
(i) T= 3 minutes = 0.05 hr

P ( more than T time period needed to serve a

customer) = e- µT

P(more than 12 mins) = e (-0.20)(18) = 0.027

Poisson-Exponential Single Server
Model – Infinite Population
Assumptions:

 The arrival process follow Poisson

distribution, with a mean arrival rate, say Λ.
 The service rate has exponential
distribution, with average service rate, µ
 Arrivals are from infinite population
Poisson-Exponential Single Server
Model – Infinite Population
Assumptions:

 Customers are served on a FCFS basis

 There is only a single service station

Poisson-Exponential Single Server
Model – Infinite Population
Formula’s

Traffic Intensity/ Utilization parameter = ρ

 (System is busy)

System is idle/ Prob. That there are no

customers in the system= P0 = 1- ρ
Formula’s

Prob. That there are one customer in the

system= P1 = ρP0 = ρ (1- ρ)
P2 = ρ2P1 = ρ2 (1- ρ)

Pn = ρnP0 = ρn(1- ρ)
Formula’s

Expected number of customers in the

system= Ls = ρ/(1- ρ) or Λ / (µ-Λ)

Expected number of customers in the queue=

Lq = Ls - Λ /µ = ρ2/(1- ρ) or Λ2/ µ (µ-Λ)
(Lq: averagfe length of all queues including
non- empty queues)
Formula’s

(Lq’: average length of non- empty queues)

Lq’ = 1/(1- ρ) or µ / (µ-Λ)

Wq: Mean waiting time in queue

Wq = 1/Λ * Lq = Λ / µ (µ -Λ) = ρ/(µ-Λ)

Ws: Mean time in the system

Ws = 1/Λ * Ls = 1/(µ-Λ) = Wq + 1/µ
Example
 A tailor specialises in ladies dresses. The
number of customers approaching the tailor
appear to be Poisson distributed with a mean
of 6 customers per hour. The tailor attends
the customers on a first come first serve
basis and the customers wait if the need be.
The tailor can attend the customers at an
average rate of 10 customers per hour with
the service time exponentially distribted.
(I) Find the probability of the number of arrivals (0
through 5) during (I) a 15 minute interval (ii) a 30
minute interval
(ii) The utilization parameter
(iii) The prob. That the queuing system is idle
(iv) the average time that the tailor is free on a 10-
hour working day
(v) The prob. Associated with the number of
customers (0 through 5) in the queuing system.
(vi) What is the expected number of customers in the shop?
(vii) What is the expected number of customers waiting for
tailor’s services?
(viii) What is the average length of the queues that that have
atleast one customer?
(ix) How much time a customer expect to spend in the
queue?
(x) What is the expected time a customer would spend in the
tailor’s shop?
Example
Arrivals at a telephone booth are considered
to be Poisson, with an average of 10 minutes
between one arrival and the next. The length
of a phone call is assumed to be distributed
exponentially, with mean of 3 minutes. Find
(I) Find the probability that an arrival finds
that four persons are waiting for their turn
(ii) The average number of persons waiting and
making telephone calls
(iii) The average length of the queue that is
formed from time to time