1.3.

QUEUES
1.3.1. Crisp Queues
The study on queues is inevitable in todays busy world as waiting in some order to get
served is a common phenomenon. Science, Engineering, Medicine, Business, Service centers,
Reservation counters, Communication network and Computer centers are some fields where
queues are formed from time to time. Queueing theory is a branch of Applied Probability Theory
which attempts to explore and compare various queueing situations for an approximate
optimization. As queues are omnipresent a study on their maintenance is highly essential.
Operations Research can quite effectively analyse queueing or congestion phenomena. The
theory permits performance measures including average waiting time in the system, expected
number waiting in the system or queue and the probability of encountering the system in certain
states such as empty, full, having an available server or having to wait before service, etc.

A queueing system is comprised of arriving customers, waiting customers and the

server.

1.3.2. Characteristics of a Queueing Model

Six Characteristics of queueing processes are explored in this section. They are :
(i)

Arrival pattern of customers.

(ii)

Service pattern of servers.

(iii)

Queue discipline.

(iv)

System capacity.

(v)

Number of service channels.

(vi)

Number of service phases.

Among the various characteristics of a queueing system input/arrival pattern of

customers, service pattern, number of servers, capacity of the system, queue discipline and the
number of phases of service decide the strength of the system. The Queueing theory enables
mathematical analysis of several related processes.

The arrival pattern/input is the number of arrivals per unit time. This is expressed in
terms of the mean number or mean inter-arrival time. The arrival may be single, bulk or batches
of fixed or varied sizes. Service pattern may also be described by the number of customers
served per unit time or the time required to serve a customer. Queue discipline refers to the rule
based on which customers are selected for service. There are many queue disciplines and the
commonly observed one is First In First Out (FIFO). The capacity refers to the limitation on the
number of customers allowed for that service. The parallel counters offering the same type of
service are also important in the study of queues. A customer may receive his service in one or
many stages depending on the requirement.

1.3.3. Performance Measures of a Queueing Model

In optimization, a decision maker always aims at the best choice for which certain
measures will be of greater use in deciding the effectiveness of the system. The measures of
interest of a customer maybe the average waiting line, average number in the system, average
waiting time in the system and the queue. The probability of the system in certain states such as
empty, full, having an available server or having to wait before service, etc may also play role in
the decision of the customer.

LITERATURE REVIEW
In the realm of fuzzy queues, apart from the contribution by researchers,
parametric non linear programming, mixed integer non linear programming and
operations of fuzzy numbers are also most relevant from the practical point of view. The
following observations are identified in a general queueing model.
i)

The fuzzy numbers can be assumed for the arrival rate and service rate in
queueing model.

ii)

In Profit Analysis of M/EK/1 Queueing System with Removable Service Station

holding cost and service cost may be fuzzy numbers.

iii)

The input parameters arrival rate and the service rate in a

State Dependent

Service Queueing model need not be clearly defined but may be fuzzy in nature.
iv)

It may be more appropriate to apply fuzzy arithmetic operations in the machine

interference problem, when breakdown rate and service rate are trapezoidal
fuzzy numbers.

iv)

In a queue model with removable service station under fuzzy environment

comparison of membership grades by employing ranking techniques may result
in a better decision making.

Thus, we have the following types of fuzzy queues.

i)

Optimizing the waiting time and the number of customers using ranking methods
with fuzzy input.

ii)

Problems using non-linear parametric programming with fuzzy input.

iii)

Problems using mixed integer non-linear parametric programming with fuzzy

input.

iv)

Problems with fuzzy input using Function Principle.

There exists a large mass of literature review on the traditional queueing models.

The finite capacity queueing systems have been extensively studied by D. Gross C.M.
Harris [33] in 1985. The steady state equation of different queueing models is discussed
and the closed forms of performance measures are obtained.
Shi, Gouweleeuw [31] and Wagner [73] have conducted researches on queueing
models with finite capacity. D.Gross and C.M.Harris 1998 [33] Hillier and Lieberman,
2001 [37] and Taha 2004 [70], suggest that the queueing decision problems are often
encountered in many practical systems such as flexible manufacturing system and in
telecommunication system. In 1996, Papadopolus [58] published many papers on
queueing decision model.
Several types of queueing models with single removable server, have been investigated
by Bell, Heyman, Kimura, Teghem and many others under various assumptions on the
interarrival and service time distribution.

N.L. Pearn and Y.C. Chang, generalized the

previous results on the controllable M/M/1 queueing system by Sivazlian and Stanfel and
ordinary M/EK/1 queueing system by Gross and Harris. N.L.Pearn, Y.C. Chang constructed the

total expected cost function per unit time, where the cost element, consists of a holding cost for
waiting customers, an operating cost for operating the service station, a start up cost and
removable cost for activating and removing the service station and cost for performing the
auxiliary task by the service station.

A number of applications of retrial queues in Science and Engineering can be

found. Recently Diamond and Alfa [19] constructed a method for approximating the
stationary distribution and waiting time moments of M/PH/1 retrial queue with phase
type inter-retrial times. The BMAP/G/1 retrial system with search for customers
immediately on termination of service was studied by Dudin et al [24] in which the interretrial time is followed by an exponential distribution and the duration of search is
characterized by a generally distributed random variable. Lopez Herrero [52]
presented the explicit formulae for the probabilities of the number of customers being
served in a busy period and an explicit expression for the second moment for M/G/1
retrial queueing system has also been given. Lopez Herrero further employed the
principle of maximum entropy to estimate the distributions of I.
In 1965, the concept of fuzzy set theory gained currency with Lotfi

A.

Zadeh. H.M. Prade [61] discussed an outline of fuzzy or possibilistic models for
queueing system in 1980. In 1988 R.J. Lie and E.S. Lee made a general approach for
queueing system in a fuzzy environment based on Zadehs extension principle. In 1990,
D.S. Negi and E.S. Lee

[55] combined the ability of fuzzy sets to represent the

queueing system. Both cut sets and the use of random variables to represent fuzzy
numbers were investigated.

In 1999, Kao et al [43] made an attempt to analyse fuzzy queues using

parametric programming.
In 2004, Shin-pin Chen [14] proposed a non linear programming approach for a
bulk queueing model.
In 2005, a bulk arrival queueing model with fuzzy parameters and varying batch
sizes was developed by Shin-pin Chen with a mixed integer programming approach.
In 2006, Fuzzy analysis of queueing systems with an unreliable server was suggested
by J.C. Ke, C.H. Lin.

In 2007, Pardo and Fuente [59] optimized two fuzzy queueing models with prioritydiscipline in which one is a non-preemptive priority system and another is a preemptive priority
system. Aydin and Apaydin [57] considered the multi-channel fuzzy queueing systems and
computed fuzzy queueing characteristics via different membership functions.

In 2008, Lin, C.H., Huang, H.I. and Ke, J.C., developed batch arrival queue with setup
and uncertain parameter patterns.

In 2009, Mara Jos Pardo optimized the functions of fuzzy profit of queueing models
with publicity and renouncement.

In 2010, R. Kalayanaraman, N. Thillaigovindan and G. Kannadasan suggested a Single

Server Fuzzy Queue with Unreliable Server.

In 2011 Ebrahim Teimoury optimized Multi Supplier Systems with Fuzzy Queueing
Approach : Case Study of SAPCO

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