Components In Layered Queueing Networks

A component is a pre-constructed LQN sub-model that can be plugged into another LQN model. A component is different from a normal model in that it declares a public interface. It is through its interface that a component is bound to its external environment. In order to plug a component into a larger model, knowledge of the internal structure of the component’s model is not needed. All that is needed is knowledge of the component’s interface. The interface consists of the services the component provides, the requests it makes to its external environment and the processors that may be replaced by external processors.