MODULE-5

Queueing Theory and Simulation

Techniques
 Queuing Theory
Introduction
Before going to queuing theory (waiting line theory ),
one has to understand two things in clear. They are
service and customer or element.

• Here customer or element represents a person or

machine or any other thing, which is in need of some
service from servicing point.

• Service represents any type of attention to the

customer to satisfy his need.
 CONTD…
Example:(Customer or element)
1. A Person going to hospital to get medical advice from the doctor is
an element or a customer,

2. A person going to railway station or a bus station to purchase a

ticket for the journey is a customer or an element,

3. A person at ticket counter of a cinema hall is an element or a

customer,

4. A person at a grocery shop to purchase consumables is an

element or a customer,

5. A machine break down and waiting for the attention of a

maintenance crew is an element or a customer.

6. A train waiting at outer signal for green signal is an element or a

customer
 CONTD…
Example:(service)
1. Doctor is a service facility and medical care is a service.

2. Ticket counter(railway/bus) is a service facility and issue of ticket

is service.

3. Ticket counter(cinema) is a service facility and issue of ticket is

service.

4. Shop owner is a service facility and issue of items is service.

5. Maintenance crew is service facility and repairing the machine is

service.

6. Signal post is a service facility and green signaling is service.

 CONTD…
• A flow of customers from infinite or finite population towards the
service facility forms a queue or waiting line on account of lack of
capability to serve them all at a time.

• The above discussion clarifies that the term customer we mean to

the arriving unit that requires some service to be performed at the
service station.

• Queues or waiting lines stands for a number of customers waiting

to be serviced.

• Queue does not include the customer being serviced. The process
or system that performs the services to the customer is termed as
service channel or service facility.

• waiting lines ARE not only the lines formed by human beings but
also the other things like railway coaches, vehicles, material etc.
 CONTD…
• Servers may be in parallel or in series.

• When it is parallel, the arriving customers may form

a single queue as in the case of post offices, ticket
windows in railway station and bus station or a
cinema theatre etc.

• If the serves are in series, then number of queues is

formed in front of service facilities, for example we
can take repair of break down machines.
 CONTD…
• The rate of flow depends on the nature of service and the
serving capacity of the station

• In two situation queue is formed

• When the total number of customers requiring service

exceeds the number of facilities, the customer get
frustrated and leave the queue to get the service at some
other service station. In this case the organization looses
the customer goodwill.

• Some service facility waits for arrival of customers when

the total capacity of system is more than the number of
customers requiring service. In this case service facility
remains idle for a considerable time causing a burden of
organizer.
 QUEUING SYSTEM OR PROCESS
One thing we have to remember is that when we speak
of queue, we have to deal with two elements, i.e.
Arrivals and Service facility.
Entire queuing system can be completely described by
(Characteristics of queuing system):

1. The input (Arrival pattern)

2. The service mechanism or service pattern,
3. The queue discipline and
4. Customer behavior.
 QUEUE
SERVICE FACILITY
FOR
SERVIEC
CUSTOMER Channel 1
ARRIVING CUSTOMER
LEAVING
Channel 2
THE
SYSTEM
Channel 3

INPUT WAITIN OUTPUT

G SERVICE

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF QUEUING

SYSTEM
1. The Input (arrival pattern):
Input describes the way in which the customer joins the system.

• In general customer arrival will be in random fashion, which cannot

be predicted.

• customer arrives randomly individually or in batches.

• The arrival pattern can be more clearly described in terms of

probabilities and consequently the probability distribution for inter-
arrival times i.e. the time between two successive arrivals

• In our discussion in this chapter, it is dealt with those queuing

system in which the customers arrive in Poisson or Completely
random fashion.

• The mean arrival rate is denoted by 𝝀

2. The service mechanism:
• This means the service facilities are arranged to serve the
arriving customer or a customer in the waiting line.
• The time required to serve the customer cannot be estimated
until we know the need of the customer
• Service facility design: Arriving customers maybe asked to
form a single line (Single queue) or multi line (multi queue)
depending on the service need. When they stand in single line
it is known as Single channel facility when they stand in multi
lines it is known as multi channel facility.
1. Single channel queues: If the organization has provided single facility
to serve the customers, only one unit can be served at a time, hence
arriving customers form a queue near the facility. depending on the
type of service the system is divided into Single phase and Multi
phase service facility
Single channel single phase:
Petrol bunks, the vehicle enters the petrol station. If
there is only one petrol pump is there, it joins the
queue near the pump and when the turn comes,
get the fuel filled and soon after leaves the queue.

Single channel multi phase:

At petrol station, the customer will first get the tank
filled with fuel, then goes to pollution check point
get the exhaust gas checked for carbon dioxide
content and then goes to Air compressor and get
the air check and leaves the petrol station. Here
each service facility is known as a phase
2. Multi Channel queues: When the input rates
increases, and the demand for the service increases,
the management will provide additional service
facilities to reduce the rush of customers or waiting
time of customers. In such cases, different queues will
be formed in front of different service facilities. If the
service is provided to customers at one particular
service center, then it is known as Multi channel Single-
phase system.

In case service is provided to customer in different

stages or phases, which are in parallel, then it is known
as multi channel multi phase queuing system
3. The Queuing discipline:
When the customers are standing in a queue, they are called to
serve depending on the nature of the customer. The order in
which they are called is known as Service discipline. There are
various ways in which the customer called to serve. They are:
1. First In First Out (FIFO) or First Come First Served (FCFS)

2. Last in first out (LIFO) or Last Come First Served (LCFS) First In
Last Out (FILO).

3. Service In Random Order (SIRO)

4. Service By Priority
4. Customer behavior.

1. Balking: This behavior signifies that the customer

does not like to join the queue seeing the long
length of it. This behaviour may effect in loosing
a customer by the organization. Always a lengthy
queue indicates insufficient service facility and
customer may not turn out next time.

2. Reneging: In this case the customer joins the

queue and after waiting for certain time looses
his patience and leaves the queue. This behavior
of the customer may also cause loss of customer
to the organization.
 3. Collusion: In this case several customers may
collaborate and only one of them may stand in the queue. One
customer represents a group of customer. Here the queue length
may be small but service time for an individual will be more. This
may break the patience of the other customers in the waiting
line and situation may lead to any type of worst episode.

4. Jockeying: If there are number of waiting lines

depending on the number of service stations, for example Petrol
bunks, Cinema theaters, etc. A customer in one of the queue
after seeing the other queue length, which is shorter, with a
hope of getting the service, may leave the present queue and
join the shorter queue. In such case the probability of getting
service to the customer who has changed the queue may be very
less. Because of this character of the customer, the queue
lengths may goes on changing from time to time.
 KENDALL’S NOTATION FOR
REPRESENTING QUEUING MODELS
A model is expressed as
(𝒂/𝒃/𝒄) : 𝒅/𝒆
Where
𝒂– Probability law for arrival (inter-arrival) time.
(Poisson distribution)
𝒃 − The probability distribution of service time of
individual being actually served.
𝒄 −The number of service channels in the system
𝒅 − Capacity of the system
𝒆 − Queue discipline
 Classification of queuing models
1. Model 1: (M/M/1): (∞/FCFS)

2. Model 2: (M/M/1): (𝑵/FCFS)

3. Model 3: (M/M/S): (∞/FCFS)

4. Model 2: (M/M/S): (𝑁/FCFS)

 Model 1: (M/M/1): (∞/FCFS)
Poisson Arrival / Poisson output / Number of channels / Infinite
capacity / FIFO Model
Formulae used
1. Average number of customer arriving per unit time= λ

2. Average number of customer being served per unit of time

=µ

𝝀
3. Traffic intensity or utility ratio = 𝝆 =
µ
𝝀
Where (𝝆 < 𝟏, < 𝟏) → λ < µ (arrival rate < service rate)
µ
4. Probability that the system is empty

𝑷𝟎 = (𝟏 − 𝝆).
5. Probability that there are n units in the system

𝑷𝒏 = 𝝆𝒏 𝑷𝟎
6. Probability that queue size is greater than equal to 𝒏 the number of customer is given
by
𝑷≥𝒏 = 𝝆𝒏 = 𝝀/µ 𝒏
7. The average (expected) number of costumer in the system is given by

𝝆 𝝀
𝑳𝒔 = =
𝟏−𝝆 𝝁−𝝀
7. The average queue length or expected number of units in the queue is given by

𝝆𝟐 𝝀𝟐
𝑳𝒒 = =
𝟏−𝝆 𝝁 𝝁−𝝀
8. The mean or expected waiting time in the queue
𝑳𝒒 𝝀
𝑾𝒒 = =
𝝀 𝝁(𝝁−𝝀)

9. The expected waiting time in the system (including service time)

𝑳𝒔 𝟏
𝑾𝒔 = =
𝝀 (𝝁−𝝀)

10. The expected length of non empty queue or expected number

of units in the queue from time to time is given by
𝝁
𝐃=
(𝝁−𝝀)

11. The fluctuation ( variance) of the queue is given by

𝝆 𝝀𝝁
𝐕= =
(𝟏−𝝆)𝟐 (𝝁−𝝀)𝟐
Problem 1. In a railway yard, goods train arrive at a rate of 30 trains
per day. Assuming that inter-arrival time follows an exponential
distribution and the service time is also exponential distribution with
an average 36 minutes. Calculate the following.
i) The average number of trains in the system.
ii) The probability that queue size exceed 10
iii) Expecting waiting time in the queue.
iv) Average number of trains in the queue
30 1
Solution: Given: λ =30/day= = µ= 1/36 trains/min
24×60 48

𝝀 𝟏/𝟒𝟖
Therefore 𝝆= = = 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓
µ 𝟏/𝟑𝟔
𝝆 𝟎.𝟕𝟓
i) Average number of trains in the system 𝑳𝒔 = = = 𝟑 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔
𝟏−𝝆 𝟏−𝟎.𝟕𝟓

ii) The probability that queue size exceed 10

,𝑷≥𝟏𝟎 = 𝝆𝟏𝟎 = 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓𝟏𝟎 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝟔𝟑
iii) Expecting waiting time in the queue.
𝑳𝒒 𝝀
, 𝑾𝒒 = = = 𝟏𝟎𝟖𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝝀 𝝁(𝝁−𝝀)

iv) Average waiting time in the queue.

𝝆𝟐 𝟎.𝟕𝟓𝟐
,𝑳𝒒 = = = 𝟐. 𝟐𝟓 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝟐
𝟏−𝝆 𝟏−𝟎.𝟕𝟓
Problem 2. The arrival of customer at banking counter follows
poisson distribution with a mean of 45 per hour. The service rate of
the counter clerk also follows poisson distribution with a mean of 60
per hour.
i) What is the probability of having zero customer in the system?
ii) What is the probability of having 5 customer in the system?
iii) Determine the steady statistics namely 𝐿𝑠 , 𝐿𝑞 , 𝑊𝑠 , 𝑊𝑞 .
Solution: Given: Average number of customer arriving per unit time= λ =45/hr
Average number of customer being served per unit of time = µ=60/hr
𝝀 𝟒𝟓
Therefore 𝝆= = = 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓
µ 𝟔𝟎
i) Probability of having zero customer , 𝑷𝟎 = 𝟏 − 𝝆 = 𝟏 − 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓 = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟓
ii) Probability of having 5 customer , 𝑷𝟓 = 𝝆𝟓 𝑷𝟎 = 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓𝟓 × 𝟎. 𝟐𝟓 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝟗𝟑
𝝆 𝟎.𝟕𝟓 𝑳𝒔 𝟏 𝟏
iii) 𝑳𝒔 = 𝟏−𝝆 = 𝟏−𝟎.𝟕𝟓 = 𝟑 iii) 𝑾𝒔 = 𝝀
=
(𝝁−𝝀)
=
(𝟔𝟎−𝟒𝟓)
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟔𝟔

𝝆𝟐 𝟎.𝟕𝟓𝟐 𝑳𝒒 𝝀 𝟐.𝟐𝟓
iii) 𝑳𝒒 = = = 𝟐. 𝟐𝟓 iii) 𝑾𝒒 = 𝝀
=
𝝁(𝝁−𝝀)
=
𝟒𝟓
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓
𝟏−𝝆 𝟏−𝟎.𝟕𝟓
Problem 3. A repair shop attended by a single mechanic has an average of 4
customer an hr who bring small appliances for repair. The mechanic inspects them
for defect and quite often can fix them right way or render a diagnosis. This takes
him six minute on an average. Arrivals are poisson and service time has exponential
distribution find
i) probability of finding at least one customer in the shop
ii) The average number of customer in the shop
iii) The average time spent by customer in the shop.

Solution: This problem is Poisson arrival/Negative exponential service / single

channel /infinite capacity/ FIFO type problem.
𝝀 𝟒
Given: λ = 4 /hr 𝜇 = 60/6 = 10/hr 𝝆= = = 𝟎. 𝟒
µ 𝟏𝟎

i) probability of finding at least one customer in the shop

W.K.T Probability of having zero customer , 𝑷𝟎 = 𝟏 − 𝝆 = 𝟏 − 𝟎. 𝟒 = 𝟎. 𝟔

Then probability of finding at least one customer = 𝟏 − 𝑷𝟎 = 𝟏 − 𝟎. 𝟔 = 𝟎. 𝟒

𝝆 𝟎.𝟒 𝑳𝒔 𝟏 𝟏
ii) 𝑳𝒔 =
𝟏−𝝆
=
𝟏−𝟎.𝟒
= 𝟎. 𝟔𝟔 iii) 𝑾𝒔 = 𝝀
=
(𝝁−𝝀)
=
(𝟏𝟎−𝟒)
= 𝟏𝟎𝒎𝒊𝒏
Problem 4. A T.V. Repairman finds that the time spent on his jobs have an
exponential distribution with mean of 30 minutes. If he repairs sets in the order in
which they come in, and if the arrival of sets is approximately Poisson with an
average rate of 10 per 8 hour day, what is repairman's expected idle time each day?
How many jobs are ahead of the average set just brought in?

Solution: This problem is Poisson arrival/Negative exponential service / single

channel /infinite capacity/ FIFO type problem.
Given: λ = 10 sets per 8 hour day = 10 / 8 = 5/4 sets per hour
1/𝜇 = 30 minutes, hence µ = (1/30) 60 = 2 sets per hour.
𝝀
Hence, Utility ratio = 𝝆 = = (5/4) / 2 = = 5 / 8. = 0.625. This means out of 8 hours
µ
5 hours the system is busy i.e. repairman is busy.

i) Probability that there is no queue = The system is idle =

𝑷𝟎 = 𝟏 − 𝝆 = 1 - (5 / 8) = 3 / 8 That is out of 8 hours the repairman will
be idle for 3 hours.
ii) Number of sets ahead of the set just entered = Average number of sets in
𝝆
system = 𝑳𝒔 = = 5 / 3 ahead of jobs just came in.
𝟏−𝝆
Problem 5. The arrival rate of customers at the single window-booking counter of a
two-wheeler agency follows Poisson distribution and the service tine follows
exponential (negative) distribution and hence, the service rate follows Poisson
distribution. The arrival rate and the service rate are 25 customers per hour and 35
customers per hour, respectively. Find the following:
(a) Utilization of the booking clerk.
(b) Average number of waiting customers in the queue.
(c) Average number of waiting customers in the system.
(d) Average waiting time per customer in the queue.
(e) Average waiting time per customer in the system.
Solution:
Problem 6. A harbour has single dock to unload the containers from the incoming
ships. The arrival rate of ships at the harbour follows Poisson distribution and the
unloading time for the ships follows exponential (negative) distribution and hence, the
service rate also follows Poisson distribution. The arrival rate and the service rate are 8
ships per week and 14 ships per week, respectively. Find the following:
(a) Utilization of the dock.
(b) Average number of waiting ships in the queue.
(c) Average number of waiting ships in the system.
(d) Average waiting time per ship in the queue
(e) Average waiting time per ship in the system.
Solution:
Problem 7. People arrive at a theatre ticket booth in Poisson distributed arrival rate of
25 per hour. Service time is constant at 2 minutes. Calculate
i) The mean number in the waiting line
ii) The mean waiting time
iii) The utilization factor
Solution: