Dynamic, Transient and Stationary Behavior of the $M/GI/1$ Queue Via Martingales

Abstract

An exponential martingale is associated with the Markov chain of the number of customers in the $M/GI/1$ queue. With the help of arguments from renewal theory, this martingale provides a unified probabilistic framework for deriving several well-known generating functions for the $M/GI/1$ queue, such as the Pollaczek-Khintchine formula, the transient generating function of the number of customers at departure epochs and the generating function of the number of customers served in a busy period.