Arrival theorems for product-form stochastic Petri nets

Abstract

We consider a particular class of Stochastic Petri Nets whose stationary probabilities at arbitrary instants exhibit a product form. We study these nets at specific instants in the steady state that occur directly after the firing of a transition. We focus our attention on the instant after tokens are removed from the places specified by a transition's input bag and just before tokens are entered into the places specified by the same transition's output bag. We show that the stationary probabilities at “arrival instants” are related to corresponding stationary probabilities at arbitrary instants in net(s) with lower load. We then show how one of the “arrival” theorems can be applied to the derivation of a formula for the mean sojourn time of a token in a place at steady state. This is the basis for the development of a Mean Value Analysis algorithm for the computation of performance indices for Product-Form Stochastic Petri Nets.