Performance Analysis of Two Priority Queuing Systems in Tandem

In this paper, we consider a tandem of two head-of-line (HOL) non-preemptive priority queuing systems, each with a single server and a deterministic service-time. Two classes of traffic are considered, namely high priority and low priority traffic. By means of a generating function approach, we present a technique to derive closed-form expressions for the mean buffer occupancy at each node and mean delay. Finally, we illustrate our solution technique with some numerical examples, whereby we illustrate the starvation impact of the HOL priority scheduling discipline on the performance of the low-priority traffic stream. Our research highlights the important fact that the unfairness of the HOL priority scheduling becomes even more noticeable at the network level. Thus this priority mechanism should be used with caution.