It is now known that the usual traffic condition (the nominal load being less than one at each station) is not sufficient for stability for a multiclass open queueing network. Although there has been some progress in establishing the stability conditions for a multiclass network, there is no unified approach to this problem. In this paper, we prove that a queueing network is positive Harris recurrent if the corresponding fluid limit model eventually reaches zero and stays there regardless of the initial system configuration. As an application of the result, we prove that single class networks, multiclass feedforward networks and first-buffer-first-served preemptive resume discipline in a re-entrant line are positive Harris recurrent under the usual traffic condition. AMS 1991 subject classification: Primary 60K25, 90B22; Secondary 60K20, 90B35. Key words and phrases: multiclass queueing networks, Harris positive recurrent, stability, fluid approximation Running title: Stability of mu...

Motivated by recent development in high speed networks, in this paper we study two types of stability problems: (i) conditions for queueing networks that render bounded queue lengths and bounded delay for customers, and (ii) conditions for queueing networks in which the queue length distribution of a queue has an exponential tail with rate `. To answer these two types of stability problems, we introduce two new notions of traffic characterization: minimum envelope rate (MER) and minimum envelope rate with respect to `. Based on these two new notions of traffic characterization, we develop a set of rules for network operations such as superposition, input-output relation of a single queue, and routing. Specifically, we show that (i) the MER of a superposition process is less than or equal to the sum of the MER of each process, (ii) a queue is stable in the sense of bounded queue length if the MER of the input traffic is smaller than the capacity, (iii) the MER of a departure process from a stable queue is less than or equal to that of the input process (iv) the MER of a routed process from a departure process is less than or equal to the MER of the departure process multiplied by the MER of the routing process. Similar results hold for MER with respect to ` under a further assumption of independence. These rules provide a natural way to analyze feedforward networks with multiple classes of customers. For single class networks with nonfeedforward routing, we provide a new method to show that similar stability results hold for such networks under the FCFS policy. Moreover, when restricting to the family of two-state Markov modulated arrival processes, the notion of MER with respect to ` is shown to be

Algorithms for perfect or exact simulation of random samples from the invariant measure of a Markov chain have received considerable recent attention following the introduction of the "coupling-from-the-past" (CFTP) technique of Propp and Wilson. Here we place such algorithms in the context of backward coupling of stochastically recursive sequences. We show that although general backward couplings can be constructed for chains with finite mean forward coupling times, and can even be thought of as extending the classical "Loynes schemes" from queueing theory, successful "vertical" CFTP algorithms such as those of Propp and Wilson can be constructed if and only if the chain is uniformly geometric ergodic. We also relate the convergence moments for backward coupling methods to those of forward coupling times: the former typically lose at most one moment compared to the latter. Work supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-9504561 and by CRDF Grant RM1-226 y Postal Address: Institute of Math...

Using stochastic dominance, in this paper we provide a new characterization of point processes. This characterization leads to a unified proof for various stability results of open Jackson networks where service times are i.i.d. with a general distribution, external interarrival times are i.i.d. with a general distribution and the routing is Bernoulli. We show that if the traffic condition is satisfied, i.e., the input rate is smaller than the service rate at each queue, then the queue length process (the number of customers at each queue) is tight. Under the traffic condition, the p th moment of the queue length process is bounded for all t if the p+1 th moment of the service times at all queues are nite. If, furthermore, the moment generating functions of the service times at all queues exist, then all the moments of the queue length process are bounded for all t. When the interarrival times are unbounded and non-lattice (resp. spread-out), the queue lengths and the remaining service times converge in distribution (resp. in total variation) to a steady state. Also, the moments converge if the corresponding moment conditions are satisfied.

This paper gives a survey of recent results on generalized Jackson networks, where classical exponential or i.i.d. assumptions on services and routings are replaced by stationary and ergodic assumptions. We first show that the most basic features of the network may exhibit unexpected behavior. Several probabilistic properties are then discussed, including a strong law of large numbers for the number of events in the stations, the existence, uniqueness and representation of stationary regimes for queue size and workload.

This paper gives a pathwise construction of Jackson-type queueing networks allowing the derivation of stability and convergence theorems under general probabilistic assumptions on the driving sequences; namely, it is only assumed that the input process, the service sequences and the routing mechanism are jointly stationary and ergodic in a sense that is made precise in the paper. The main tools for these results are the subadditive ergodic theorem, which is used to derive a strong law of large numbers, and basic theorems on monotone stochastic recursive sequences. The techniques which are proposed here apply to other and more general classes of discrete event systems, like Petri nets or GSMP’s. The paper also provides new results on the Jackson-type networks with i.i.d. driving sequences which were studied in the past.

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. This paper investigates geometric stability and L p -stability of discrete-time Markov chains associated with closed and open queueing networks with Markovian routing. By geometric stability (resp. L p -stability) we mean that the chain is regenerative in the Harris-recurrent sense and that the times between the successive regeneration points have a bounded moment generating function (resp. a bounded pth moment). We show that the closed queueing networks are geometrically stable (resp. L p -stable) if the service times have a bounded moment generation function (resp. a bounded pth moment), and that the open queueing networks are geometrically stable (resp. L p -stable) if the service times have a bounded moment generating function (resp. a bounded maxfp; 2g-th moment) and the interarrival times have a bounded second moment (resp. a bounded pth moment). STOCHASTIC LYAPUNOV FUNCTION CRITERIA, STOCHASTIC STABILITY, CLOSED AND OPEN QUEUEING NETWORKS, HARRIS RECURRENT MARKOV CHAINS AMS ...

We study bounds on the rate of convergence to the stationary distribution in monotone separable networks which are represented in terms of stochastic recursive sequences. Monotonicity properties of this subclass of Markov chains allow us to formulate conditions in terms of marginal network characteristics. Two particular examples, generalized Jackson networks and multiserver queues, are considered.