Effects of system parameters on the optimal policy structure in a class of queueing control problems

This paper studies a class of queueing control problems involving commonly used control mechanisms such as admission control and pricing. It is well established that in a number of these problems, there is an optimal policy that can be described by a few parameters. From a design point of view, it is useful to understand how such an optimal policy varies with changes in system parameters. We present a general framework to investigate the policy implications of the changes in system parameters by using event-based dynamic programming. In this framework, the control model is represented by a number of common operators, and the effect of system parameters on the structured optimal policy is analyzed for each individual operator. Whenever a queueing control problem can be modeled by these operators, the effects of system parameters on the optimal policy follow from this analysis.