Queueing analysis of ATM tandem queues with correlated arrivals

Considers tandem queues with correlated arrivals and joining interference, which model a portion of a virtual circuit at the access node in an ATM network. The authors focus the main analysis on a two-node tandem network, which they model as a discrete-time queueing system. They derive a functional equation relating the joint generating function of this system between two consecutive slots. The functional equation is then transformed into a suitable form, which enables the derivation of the steady-state joint generating function of the contents of the queues. From this, any moment of the queue length at each node can be extracted. They also give explicit expressions for the average time delay at each node as well as for the total average delay in the network. They illustrate the solution technique by some numerical examples.