Decomposability (PDF)

Decomposability: Queueing and Computer System Applications presents a set of powerful methods for systems analysis. This 10-chapter text covers the theory of nearly completely decomposable systems upon which specific analytic methods are based.

The first chapters deal with some of the basic elements of a theory of nearly completely decomposable stochastic matrices, including the Simon-Ando theorems and the perturbation theory. The succeeding chapters are devoted to the analysis of stochastic queuing networks that appear as a type of key model. These chapters also discuss congestion problems in information processing systems, which could be studied by the queuing network models. A method of analysis by decomposition and aggregation for these models is proposed. Other chapters highlight the problem of computer system performance evaluation, specifically the analysis of hardware and software of the dynamic behavior of computer systems and user programs. These topics are followed by a description of an aggregative model of a typical multiprogramming time-sharing computer system. The last chapter examines the existing affinity between the concept of aggregate in nearly completely decomposable structures and the notions of module and level of abstraction so frequently invoked in computer system design and software engineering.

This book will prove useful to both hardware and software designers and engineers, as well as scientists who are investigating complex systems.