The correction terms in approximate mean value analysis (Q1078929)

Average values of queue lengths, throughoutput, and delay for multi-class queueing networks in equilibrium can be approximately obtained from simultaneous traffic flow equations. The mean value analysis (MVA) equations are subject to a heuristic correction term expressing the difference between equilibrium sojourn times, and those seen by the arriving customer. Various iterative methods have been developed to estimate this correction term, these often involving substantial computation times. It is suggested here that estimation error is substantially reduced, and computation facilitated by the introduction of certain properties of the approximation term. While it cannot be shown that these properties are rigorously true, they represent reasonable assumptions on the behavior of the queueing system.