Syllabus

Syllabus & Schedule (Fall 2024)

THE INFORMATION ON THIS WIKI PAGE MAY BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER. PLEASE CHECK IT REGULARLY

Schedule at-a-glance

Class times and location: Monday & Wednesday, 4:00pm-5:20pm in Jubel Hall 121.

Legend: HOMEWORKS: Due date; QUIZZES: Date they become available (due date is 72 hours later)

Quiz	Hmwk	No class

	Mo.	We.	Mo.	We.	Mo.	We.	Mo.	We.	Mo.	We.
August	26	28
September	2	4	9 (H1)	11 (Q1)	16	18	23 (H2)	25 (Q2)	30
October		2	7	9 (H3)	14 (Q3)	16	21	23 (H4)	28 (Q4)	30
November	4	6	11 (H5)	13 (Q5)	18	23	25	27
December	2	4 (H6)
		5 (Q6)	Note: To be completed by 5:30pm on the last day of classes, Friday, December 6, 2024

Detailed Schedule & Syllabus

NOTE: This schedule in TENTATIVE, and may change depending on the speed at which we cover different topics. Changes to the schedule will be reflected as quickly as possible on this page.

August

Unit	Date	Scope	Material & Reading Assignments (To Be Read Ahead of Class)	Notes & slides (If any)	Preview Problems	Quizzes & Homeworks
U0	8/26	Course overview, logistics, (motivating) examples and terminology	Chapters 1 & 2	Notes 0 Intro & Nomenclature	Preview Problems 1
U1	8/28	A brief review of probability topics, both basic and slightly more advanced, which are needed in the course	Chapters 3 & 5	Probability Refresher and Practice Problems for U1	Preview Problems 2

September

Unit	Date	Scope	Material & Reading Assignments (To Be Read Ahead of Class)	Notes & slides (If any)	Preview Problems	Quizzes & Homeworks
U1	9/2	NO CLASS - LABOR DAY
	9/4	An introduction of general principles such as Little's Law and various other "laws" and bounds for closed system, which hold with little or no assumptions	Chapters 6 & 7	Little & Operational Laws	Preview Problems 3 & 4
U2	9/9	A first foray into Markov chain focused on finite Discrete Time Markov Chains (DTMCs) and their applications to simple problems.	Chapter 8 (Sections 8.1 to 8.7)	Discrete Time Markov Chains and Web caching as a DTMC in U2 Practice Problems	Preview Problems 5]	HWK #1
U2	9/11	Infinite DTMCs and some simple applications	Chapter 8 (Sections 8.8 to 8.10)	Discrete Time Markov Chains and DTMC Examples	Preview Problems 6	Quiz 1
U2	9/16	Ergodicity, balance equations, and time reversibility for DTMCs	Chapter 9	Ergodicity and more	Preview Problems 7
U2	9/18	Review of z-transforms and applications to DTMCs	Chapter 25 (the parts about z-transforms) & Chapter 10 (mostly Section 10.3, though the others are of independent interest)	z-transforms and z-transform solution for Geom/Geom/1 queue (last problem of U2 on Canvas)	Preview Problems 8
Open	9/23	U2 Recap session	All U2 material	Review 1		HWK #2
U3	9/25	Exponential distribution & Poisson process	Chapter 11	Exponential & Poisson Distributions (except the material on PASTA)	Preview Problems 9	Quiz 2
U3	9/30	Introduction to continuous time Markov chains (CTMC), M/M/1 queue & PASTA theorem	Chapters 12 & 13	Continuous Time Markov Chains plus Exponential & Poisson Distributions (for PASTA), and and some related problems (Chapter 13 problems in U3)]	Preview Problems 10

October

Unit	Date	Scope	Material & Reading Assignments (To Be Read Ahead of Class)	Notes & slides (If any)	Preview Problems	Quizzes & Homeworks
U3	10/2	M/M/k/k (Erlang-B formula) and M/M/k queueing systems	Chapter 14	Continuous Time Markov Chains	Preview Problems 11
	10/7	NO CLASS - FALL BREAK - Review 2 to be held in TBD on TBD Slides for review 2
U3	10/9	Applications to system provisioning	Chapter 15 + Sections 8.11 & 8.12 of Zukerman's book (Hayward approximation and Equivalent Random Theory)	System Provisioning	Preview Problems 12	HWK #3
U4	10/14	Revisiting time reversibility and applications to network of queues	Chapter 16	Burke Theorem, Reversibility, and Basic Networks of Queues	Preview Problems 13	Quiz 3
U4	10/16	Jackson networks (of queues) and product form distribution	Chapter 17	Jackson Networks of Queues and Chapter 17 problem (1st problem in U4)	Preview problems 14
U4	10/21	Classed Jackson networks + Mean Value Analysis	Chapters 18 & 19	Classed Networks of Queues & Mean Value Analysis and Chapter 18 problem (2nd problem in U4)	Preview Problems 15
Open	10/23	U4 Recap session	All U4 material	Review 3		HWK #4
U5	10/28	A quick introduction to Matrix-Analytic techniques and phase-type distributions	Chapter 21	Matrix Analytic Techniques	Preview Problems 16	Quiz 4
U5	10/30	Processor sharing queues	Chapter 22	Processor Sharing Queues	Preview Problems 17

November

Unit	Date	Scope	Material & Reading Assignments (To Be Read Ahead of Class)	Notes & slides (If any)	Preview Problems	Quizzes & Homeworks
U5	11/4	The M/G/1 queue and Renewal-Reward theorem	Chapter 23	M/G/1 Queue & Renewal Reward Theory and Chapter 23 problems (1st problems in U5a)	Preview Problems 18
U5	11/6	A brief foray into task/server assignment policies	Chapter 24	Task/Server Assignment Policies	Preview Problems 19
Open	11/11	U5 Recap session	All U5 material covered so far	Review 4		HWK #5
U5	11/13	Transform analysis of M/G/1 queue (and review of transforms)	Chapter 25 and Chapter 26 (Section 1)	Transform Analysis - Summary of Main Transform Relationships - Finite M/G/1 Queue	Preview Problems 20	Quiz 5
U5	11/18	M/G/1 queue and application to power optimization	Chapter 26 (Section 2) and Chapter 27	M/G/1 Busy Period & Power Optimization and Chapter 27 problems (2nd bullet problems in U5a)	Preview Problems 21
U5	11/20	Non-preemptive scheduling policies for M/G/1/ queue	Review Section 3 of Chapter 27 Read Chapter 28 reviewing key metrics, Chapter 29 and Chapter 31 (they are small chapters)	Scheduling Non-Preemptive Policies	Preview Problems 22
U5	11/25	Non-Size-Based Preemptive scheduling policies for M/G/1 queue	Chapter 30	Non-Size-Based Preemptive Scheduling Policies and Problem 30.5 (3rd problem in U5b)	Preview Problems 23
	11/27	NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING BREAK

December

Unit	Date	Scope	Material & Reading Assignments (To Be Read Ahead of Class)	Notes & slides (If any)	Preview Problems	Quizzes & Homeworks
U5	12/2	Size-Based Preemptive scheduling policies for M/G/1 queue	Chapters 32 & 33	Size-Based Preemptive Policies	Preview Problems 24
Open	12/4	U5 Recap session	All U5 material covered from Quiz 5 onward	Review 5 Jiaming's review slides		HWK #6
	12/5		Available on 12/5 at 5:30pm, due three days later			Quiz 6