Moment inequalities for the discrete-time bulk service queue

Abstract.

For the discrete-time bulk service queueing model, the mean and variance of the steady-state queue length can be expressed in terms of moments of the arrival distribution and series of the zeros of a characteristic equation. In this paper we investigate the behaviour of these series. In particular, we derive bounds on the series, from which bounds on the mean and variance of the queue length follow. We pay considerable attention to the case in which the arrivals follow a Poisson distribution. For this case, additional properties of the series are proved leading to even sharper bounds. The Poisson case serves as a pilot study for a broader range of distributions.