Acyclic Fork-Join Queuing Networks

In this paper the class of acyclic fork-join queuing networks that arise in various applications, including parallel processing and flexible manufacturing are studied. In such queuing networks, a fork describes the simultaneous creation of several new customers, which are sent to different queues. The corresponding join occurs when the services of all these new customers are completed. The evolution equations that govern the behavior of such networks are derived. From this, the stability conditions are obtained and upper and lower bounds on the network response times are developed. These bounds are based on various stochastic ordering principles and on the notion of association of random variables.