Abstract
In many queues associated with data traffic (for example, a buffer at a router), arrival and service distributions are heavy-tailed. A difficulty with analyzing these queues is that heavy-tailed distributions do not generally have closed-form Laplace transforms. A recently proposed method, the Transform Approximation Method (TAM), overcomes this by numerically approximating the transform. This paper investigates numerical issues of implementing the method for simple queueing systems. In particular, we argue that TAM can be used in conjunction with the Fourier-series method for inverting Laplace transforms, even though TAM is a discrete approximation and the Fourier method requires a continuous distribution. We give some numerical examples for an M/G/1 priority queue.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abate, J., G.L. Choudhury, W. Whitt. 1994. Waiting-time tail probabilities in queues with long-tail service distributions. Queueing Systems 16, 311–338.
Abate, J., W. Whitt. 1992. The Fourier-series method for inverting transforms of probability distributions. Queueing Systems 10, 5–88.
Abate, J., W. Whitt. 1995. Numerical inversion of Laplace transforms of probability distributions. ORSA Journal on Computing 7, 36–43.
Abate, J., W. Whitt. 1997. Asymptotics for M/G/l low-priority waiting-time tail probabilities. Queueing Systems 25, 173–223.
Abate, J., W. Whitt. 1999. Computing Laplace transforms for numerical inversion via continued fractions. INFORMS Journal on Computing 11, 394–405.
Brill, P.H. 2002. Properties of the waiting time in M/Dn/1 queues. Windsor Math Report, U. of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, April, 2002.
Crovella, M.E., M.S. Taqqu, A. Bestavros. 1998. Heavy-tailed probability distributions in the World Wide Web. A Practical Guide to Heavy Tails: Statistical Techniques and Applications. R. Adler, R. Feldman, and M.S. Taqqu, eds. Birkhaüser, Boston, MA, 3–25.
Feldman, A., W. Whitt. 1998. Fitting mixtures of exponentials to long-tail distributions to analyze network performance models. Performance Evaluation 31, 245–279.
Fowler, T.B. 1999. A short tutorial on fractals and Internet traffic. The Telecommunications Review 10, 1–14, Mitretek Systems, Falls Church, VA, http://www.mitretek.org/home.nsf/Teleconimunications/TelecommunicationsReview.
Greiner, M., M. Jobmann, L. Lipsky. 1999. The importance of power-tail distributions for modeling queueing systems. Operations Research 47, 313–326.
Gross, D. and C.M. Harris. 1998. Fundamentals of Queueing Theory, 3rd ed., John Wiley, New York.
Harris, CM. and W.G. Marchai. 1998. Distribution estimation using Laplace transforms. INFORMS Journal on Computing 10, 448–458.
Harris, CM., P.H. Brill, M.J. Fischer. 2000. Internet-type queues with power-tailed interarrivai times and computational methods for their analysis. INFORMS Journal on Computing 12, 261–271.
Leland, W., M. Taqqu, W. Willinger, D. Wilson. 1994. On the self-similar nature of Ethernet traffic (extended version). IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking 2(1), 1–13.
Naldi, M. 1999. Measurement-based modelling of Internet dial-up access connections. Computer Networks 31, 2381–2390.
Paxson, V., S. Floyd. 1995. Wide-area traffic: The failure of Poisson modeling. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking 3, 226–244.
Sigman, K. 1999. Appendix: A primer on heavy-tailed distributions. Queueing Systems 33, 261–275.
Shortle, J., P. Brill, M. Fischer, D. Gross, D. Masi. 2002. An algorithm to find the waiting time for the M/G/l queue. Conditionally accepted and re-submitted to INFORMS Journal on Computing, 2002.
Shortle, J., M. Fischer, D. Gross, D. Masi. 2003. Using the transform approximation method to analyze queues with heavy-tailed service. To appear in Journal of Probability and Statistical Science 1, 17–30.
Willinger, W., V. Paxson. 1998. Where mathematics meets the Internet. Notices of the American Mathematical Society 45, 961–970.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shortle, J., Gross, D., Fischer, M.J., Masi, D.M.B. (2003). Numerical Methods for Analyzing Queues with Heavy-Tailed Distributions. In: Anandalingam, G., Raghavan, S. (eds) Telecommunications Network Design and Management. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces Series, vol 23. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3762-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3762-2_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5326-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3762-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive