Queueing Petri Nets-A formalism for the combined qualitative and quantitative analysis of systems

Abstract

System analysis is often needed with respect to both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In recent decades, several formalisms have been developed that attempt to combine these aspects in one description. Present emphasis is on stochastic Petri nets. One disadvantage of these formalisms is the difficulties when describing scheduling strategies with Petri net elements. A new version of queuing Petri nets (QPNs), which combines queuing networks and Petri nets, aiming at eliminating these disadvantages is described. The new version also exhibits the modeling of timed transitions and timeless queues for describing pure scheduling mechanisms. QPNs are a superset of queueing networks and (generalized stochastic) Petri nets. The analysis of QPNs is discussed, and it is shown that efficient analysis techniques from Petri net theory can be exploited for analysis of QPNs, thus supporting the general objective of combining Petri net and queueing network formalisms.<>