An investigation of phase-distribution moment-matching algorithms for use in queueing models (Q809485)

A GI/M/1 queue with general interarrival time distribution A is approximated by a corresponding queue where the interarrival time distribution is of phase type with matching moments up to the k-th order, \(k=2,3\). The approximation error for the steady state mean queue length is studied as a function of the excess variation and the coefficient of skewness of A and the traffic intensity. The authors describe circumstances where three-moment-approximations are superior to two- moment-approximations and those where the opposite case is true. Most conclusions are based on empirical evidence.