Simplified Analysis of an Alternating-Priority Queuing Model with Setup Times

This paper analyzes a single-server queuing system in which service is alternated between two queues. Each queue is assumed to have an independent Poisson input and an independent general service-time distribution. The alternating priority rule is followed. Independent general distributions are assumed for the intervals required to switch service from one queue to the other. The following aspects of the steady-state solution are presented for each queue: average delay of an entering customer, average length, average durations of the busy period, and average rate at which service is offered to a queue. The model has been applied to a generalized data-communications system in which transmission between two data stations is possible in only one direction at a time.