This paper considers a Markovian model for the optimal dynamic routing of homogeneous traffic to parallel heterogeneous queues, each having its own finite input buffer and server pool, where buffer and server-pool sizes, as well as service rates, may differ across queues. The main goal is to...

This paper develops a framework based on convex optimization and economic ideas to formulate and solve by an index policy the problem of optimal dynamic effort allocation to a generic discrete-state restless bandit (i.e. binary-action: work/rest) project, elucidating a host of issues raised by...

We address the problem of scheduling a multiclass $M/M/m$ queue with Bernoulli feedback on $m$ parallel servers to minimize time-average linear holding costs. We analyze the performance of a heuristic priority-index rule, which extends Klimov's optimal solution to the single-server case: servers...

We address the performance optimization problem in a single-station multiclass queueing network with changeover times by means of the achievable region approach. This approach seeks to obtain performance bounds and scheduling policies from the solution of a mathematical program over a relaxation...

We show that if performance measures in a stochastic scheduling problem satisfy a set of so-called partial conservation laws (PCL), which extend previously studied generalized conservation laws (GCL), then the problem is solved optimally by a priority-index policy for an appropriate range of...

We argue the importance both of developing simple sufficient conditions for the stability of general multiclass queueing networks and also of assessing such conditions under a range of assumptions on the weight of the traffic flowing between service stations. To achieve the former, we review a...

We present a new unifying framework for investigating throughput-WIP (Work-in-Process) optimal control problems in queueing systems, based on reformulating them as linear programming (LP) problems with special structure: We show that if a throughput-WIP performance pair in a stochastic system...

Most research on single machine scheduling has assumed the linearity of job holding costs, which is arguably not appropriate in some applications. This motivates our study of a model for scheduling $n$ classes of stochastic jobs on a single machine, with the objective of minimizing the total...

The achievable region approach seeks solutions to stochastic optimisation problems by: (i) characterising the space of all possible performances (the achievable region) of the system of interest, and (ii) optimising the overall system-wide performance objective over this space. This is radically...

We address the problem of scheduling a multi-station multiclass queueing network (MQNET) with server changeover times to minimize steady-state mean job holding costs. We present new lower bounds on the best achievable cost that emerge as the values of mathematical programming problems (linear,...