Control and scheduling in a two-station queueing network: Optimal policies and heuristics (Q1342957)

A queueing system with two service stations and two types of customers is treated. The first type of customer needs service only at the first station, the second type needs service on both stations, at first at station one and then at station two. The authors state an optimal control problem for this service situation, which consists in the minimization of a discounted cost function over an infinite time horizon. This involves especially the sharing of the service effort between the two types of customers. Under an intensity model the optimal policy is proved to be a switching one between serving type 1 customers, serving type 2 customers and remaining idle. Also heuristic approaches are discussed.