Computer System Modelling for Terminal Response Time

Abstract

Response time is one of the very important characteristics of a computer system having a large number of terminals. One of the important factors for the response time is the time associated with the data transmission system. Hence, there can be different models depending upon (i) whether the line is half or full duplex, (ii) type of input and output message and (iii) the priority of input/output message. Eight different models of such a computer system are presented in this paper. The expressions for the response time are given for the models in contention mode and the effect of polling is then described. The models were simulated on a computer and the response times were found out with messages containing two types of transactions. The variation of the response time with (i) throughput rate, (ii) No. of terminals and (iii) line speed are presented.

Indexing Terms:

• Modelling
• Response Time
• Multidrop Line
• Contention Mode
• Polling