Join-the-Shortest-Queue Model as a Mean Field Approximation to a Local Balancing Network

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a queueing network with $N$ nodes, each of which has a fixed number $k$ of neighboring nodes, referred to as the $N$ node network with local balancing. We assume that to each of the $N$ nodes, an incoming job (or task) chooses the shortest queue from this node and its neighboring nodes. We construct an appropriate Markov process for this network and find a mean field approximation to this network as $N\rightarrow\infty$, which turns out to be the standard join-the-shortest-queue model.