The Impact of Queue Discipline on System Performance: A Comparative Study Using Statistical Simulation Techniques

Abstract

This research work provides a comparative evaluation of the effects of queue disciplines on system performance employing state of the art statistical simulation tools. Queue disciplines, which define the sequence in which the service requests are executed, play an important role in determining the effective functioning of service systems. Although there is a significant amount of work done in the analysis of individual queue disciplines, a comprehensive comparison of them under different operational scenarios is still a relatively uncharted area of study. The research focuses on three commonly used queue disciplines: The three types are FCFS, priority based and round-robin. By conducting a simulation experiment, we compare throughput, waiting time, and the level of system utilization under different system parameters. The findings show that the system performance of various queue disciplines differs significantly from one another, and there is a trade-off between the system utilization and the sharing of resources. The studies presented in this paper can therefore be useful to decision-makers in industries like manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunication sectors by providing a clear guide on which queue discipline to adopt depending on the operational goals to be achieved. The study also reveals the shortcomings of the analytical models in handling the real world systems and recommends the use of simulation methods in assessing the queueing system under dynamic environment.