In a batch of synchronized queues, customers can only be serviced all at once or not at all, implying that service remains idle if at least one queue is empty. We propose that a batch of $n$ synchronized queues in a discrete-time setting is quasi-stable for $n \in \{2,3\}$ and unstable for $n \geq 4$. A correspondence between such systems and a random-walk-like discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC), which operates on a quotient space of the original state-space, is derived. Using this relation, we prove the proposition by showing that the DTMC is transient for $n \geq 4$ and null-recurrent (hence quasi-stability) for $n \in \{2,3\}$ via evaluating infinite power sums over skewed binomial coefficients.
Ignoring the special structure of the quotient space, the proposition can be interpreted as a result of Polya's theorem on random walks, since the dimension of said space is $d-1$.
[1]
Amy R. Ward,et al.
On the dynamic control of matching queues
,
2014
.
[2]
Dieter Fiems,et al.
A Maclaurin-series expansion approach to multiple paired queues
,
2014,
Oper. Res. Lett..
[3]
Mariana Olvera-Cravioto,et al.
Parallel queues with synchronization
,
2014,
1501.00186.
[4]
G. Latouche.
QUEUES WITH PAIRED CUSTOMERS
,
1981
.
[5]
Thomas W. Cusick,et al.
Recurrences for sums of powers of binomial coefficients
,
1989,
J. Comb. Theory A.
[6]
David G. Kendall,et al.
On non-dissipative Markoff chains with an enumerable infinity of states
,
1951,
Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
[7]
J. Harrison.
Assembly-like queues
,
1973,
Journal of Applied Probability.