On the superposition of discrete-time Markov renewal processes and application to statistical multiplexing of bursty traffic sources

We introduce a methodology for approximately characterizing the superposition process of multiple arbitrary discrete-time Markov renewal processes (MRP) in terms of a discrete-time MRP. We model an arbitrary on/off traffic source as a MRP and then obtain the superposition process of multiple sources as a special case. We present a queueing analysis of a finite-buffer statistical multiplexer whose input process is the superposition of multiple arbitrary on/off traffic sources.