Optimal trajectory to overflow in a queue fed by a large number of sources (Q1294082)

The authors analyze the deviation behavior of a queue fed by a large number of traffic streams. In particular, they explicitly give the most likely trajectory (or ``optimal path'') to buffer overflow, by applying large deviations techniques. This is done for a broad class of sources, consisting of Markov fluid sources and periodic sources. Apart from a number of ramifications of this result, the authors present guidelines for the numerical evaluation of the optimal path.