Priority Queuing Networks

Priority Queuing Networks By R. J. T. MORRIS (Manuscript received October 17, 1980) Priority service disciplines are widely used in computer and communications systems. Many such systems can be modeled by queuing networks, but presently developed theory does not allow solution of these models when priority service disciplines are present. For priority queuing networks that have a homogeneity property, we give some explicit results for mean delay and throughput. However, the assumption of homogeneity is too restrictive for many applications. We identify some examples of systems for which inhomogeneous two-node priority queuing networks are appropriate models and yield to exact analysis. The results allow some conclusions to be drawn about using priorities in a two-node closed network to establish grades of service. We also use the results to evaluate a commonly used approximation technique for priority queuing systems.