Multiaccess, Reservations & Queues (Philips Research Book Series)

Reservation procedures constitute the core of many popular data transmission protocols. They consist of two steps: A request phase in which a station reserves the communication channel and a transmission phase in which the actual data transmission takes place. Such procedures are often applied in communication networks that are characterised by a shared communication channel with large round-trip times. In this book, we propose queuing models for situations that require a reservation procedure and validate their applicability in the context of cable networks. We offer various mathematical models to better understand the performance of these reservation procedures. The book covers four key performance models, and modifications to these: Contention trees, the repairman model, the bulk service queue, and tandem queues. The relevance of this book is not limited to reservation procedures and cable networks, and performance analysts from a variety of areas may benefit, as all models have found application in other fields as well.