The field of communication systems is full of complex design questions concerning performance and reliability. Since data traffic and errors occur in a random fashion, stochastic models are used for developing and comparing systems. In particular, stochastic Petri nets have become a popular tool for the description and automatic evaluation of such models. The use of non–Markovian models has become important as they allow more flexibility.∗ Provides a clear exposition of the use of stochastic Petri nets in communication systems engineering∗ Introduces the reader to the analysis techniques and algorithms used in performance evaluation∗ Provides an accompanying example to clarify the use of each definition, concept and algorithm∗ Mathematica routines used for implementing the algorithms are available on the Wiley ftp siteThe text is divided into three parts. Part I gives a general introduction to modeling with stochastic Petri nets. Part II is devoted to analysis methodology, from simple Markovian, to more complicated non–Markovian models. In Part III non–Markovian stochastic Petri nets are applied to the performance evaluation of various aspects of communication systems. The text will appeal to researchers, industrial engineers and graduate students studying communication systems and stochastic modeling. The numerous examples will benefit those working in performance evaluation, reliability, operations research, queuing theory and computer science. The Mathematica routines used for implementing the algorithms are available for downloading on the following Wiley ftp site: ftp://ftp.wiley.co.uk/pub/books/german