Analysis of M/M/c retrial queue with thresholds, PH distribution of retrial times and unreliable servers

Abstract

This paper treats a retrial queue with phase type retrial times and a threshold type-policy, where each server is subject to breakdowns and repairs. Upon a server failure, the customer whose service gets interrupted will be handed over to another available server, if any; otherwise, the customer may opt to join the retrial orbit or depart from the system according to a Bernoulli trial. We analyze such a multi-server retrial queue using the recently introduced threshold-based retrial times for orbiting customers. Applying the matrix-analytic method, we carry out the steady-state analysis and report a few illustrative numerical examples.