A tandem of discrete-time queues with arrivals and departures at each stage

A discrete-time system of a tandem of queues with exogenous arrivals and departures at each stage is considered. A customer leaving queuek–1 departs the system with probability 1–^[k] and continues to queuek with probability^[k]. Exogenous arrivals to each stage are i.i.d. at each time slot. An approximate analysis of the occupancy and busy-period distributions of each stage based on a General Busy-period with batches and Memoryless (geometric) Idle period renewal Process (GBMIP) provides improved performance over two-state Markov approximations and gives exact results when there are no interstage departures.This research was supported in part by NSF grant NCR-8708282.