A Note on Queueing Networks with Signals and Random Triggering Times

Abstract

There is a growing interest in networks of queues with customers and signals. The signals in these models carry commands to the service nodes and trigger customers to move instantaneously within the network. In this note we consider networks of queues with signals and random triggering times; that is, when a signal arrives at a node, it takes a random amount of time to trigger a customer to move with distribution depending on the source of the signal. By appropriately choosing the triggering times, we can obtain network models such that a signal changes a customer's service time distribution – for example, the signal increases or decreases the service time of a customer. We show that the stationary distribution of this model has a product form solution.