Random walks in two-dimensional complexes

A 2-dimensional complex is a union of a finite number of quarter planes ℤ+2 having some boundaries in common. The most interesting example is the union of all 2-dimensional faces of ℤ+N. We consider maximally homogeneous random walks on such complexes and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for ergodicity, null recurrence and transience up to some “non-zero” assumptions which are of measure 1 in the parameter space.The problem we address in this paper is of theoretical range. However, the results can be applied to performance evaluation of some telecommunication systems (e.g. local area networks) viewed as interacting queues. To enforce this assertion, a detailed example of coupled queues in differentregimes is presented.