Optimal scheduling of two competing queues with blocking

Consideration is given to the problem of optimal scheduling for two queues for service at a single station, where the queues have finite capacities and the service rate is class-dependent. The cost structure is linear in the number of holding customers in the queues, combined with blocking costs incurred whenever arrivals encounter a full queue. The authors derive the optimal policy minimizing this criterion when the blocking cost is larger than the holding cost for each queue. Then they show that the optimal policy is of the switching type. Numerical results are included to support the analytical findings