Applied Mathematical Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

The M/G/1 retrial queue with feedback and starting failures

B. Krishna Kumar *, S. Pavai Madheswari, A. Vijayakumar
Department of Mathematics, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India
Received 14 June 2000; received in revised form 17 September 2001; accepted 20 November 2001

Abstract

This paper discusses a retrial queue with Bernoulli feedback, where the server is subjected to starting
failure. The retrial time is assumed to follow an arbitrary distribution and the customers in the orbit access
the server under FCFS discipline. The necessary and sufficient condition for the stability of the system is
derived. Various performance measures are obtained. Some numerical results are illustrated. The general
decomposition law is shown to hold good for this model also. Some of the existing results are deduced as
special cases.
Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

AMS: Primary 60K25

Keywords: Retrial queues; Feedback; Starting failures; Steady state; Vacation; Stochastic decomposition

1. Introduction

Queueing system with repeated attempts (trials) are characterized by the phenomenon that a
customer finding all the servers busy upon arrival is obliged to leave the service area and repeat his
request for service after some random time. Between trials, the blocked customer joins a pool of
unsatisfied customers called ‘‘orbit’’. Retrial queues have been widely used to model many
problems in telephone switching systems, telecommunication networks and computers competing
to gain service from a central processor unit. For recent bibliographies on retrial queues, see
[3,4,12,13,28].
Most of the papers on retrial queues have considered the system without feedback. A more
practical retrial queue with feedback occurs in many practical situations: for instance, multiple

*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: deivanambi@hotmail.com (B. Krishna Kumar).

0307-904X/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 7 - 9 0 4 X ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 6 1 - 6
1058 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

access telecommunication systems, where messages turned out as errors are sent again, can be
modeled as retrial queue with feedback. Choi and Kulkarni [5] have studied M/G/1 retrial queue
with feedback. Falin [12] has discussed M/M/1 retrial queue with feedback and geometric loss.
Choi et al. [6] have investigated M/M/C retrial queue with geometric loss and feedback.
A remarkable and unavoidable phenomenon in the service facility of a queueing system is its
breakdown. Until the failed service facility is recovered, the waiting times for customers in the
system increase, thereby resulting in impatience of customers. To offset this, an emergency service
facility is normally provided [22]. Kulkarni and Choi [20] have analysed the M/G/1 retrial queue
with server subjected to repairs and breakdowns. Further, Choi et al. [8] have investigated the
M/G/1 retrial queue with customer collisions. Recently, Yang and Li [26] have studied the M/G/1
retrial queue with the server subject to starting failures. They obtained analytical results for the
queue length distribution and the stochastic decomposition law where the retrial time distribution
is assumed to be exponential.
Retrial queueing system with general service times and non-exponential retrial time distribu-
tions have not been received much attention. Kapyrin [18] assumed that each customer in orbit
generates a sequence of repeated attempts that are independent of the customers in the orbit and
the server state. However, this methodology was found to be incorrect by Falin [12]. Subsequently,
Yang et al. [27] have developed an approximation method to obtain the steady-state performance
measures for the model of Kapyrin.
Fayolle [14] has investigated an M/M/1 retrial queue where the customers in the retrial
group form a queue and only the customer at the head of the queue can request a service to the
server after exponentially distributed retrial time with constant rate a. A retrial queueing system
with FCFS discipline and general retrial times has been extensively discussed by Gomez-Corral
[17].
In this paper, we consider an M/G/1 retrial queue with Bernoulli feedback and the server
subject to starting failures. We also assume that the retrial time is governed by an arbitrary
distribution and that the customer at the head of the orbit queue is allowed for access to the
server. The organisation of the paper is as follows. The model under consideration is described in
Section 2, along with the necessary and sufficient condition for the system to be stable. The steady-
state distribution of the server state and the orbit length are discussed in Section 3. Section 4
discusses some numerical examples to illustrate the effect of the parameters on the system per-
formance. Finally, in Section 5, we show that a general decomposition law for M/G/1 vacation
system also holds for our system and discuss its interpretations when applied to various inter-
esting special cases.

2. Mathematical model

2.1. Model description

We consider a single-server retrial queue with the server being subjected to starting failures.
New customers arrive from outside the system according to a Poisson process with rate k. We
assume that there is no waiting space and therefore if an arriving customer finds the server busy or
down, the customer leaves the service area and enters a group of blocked customers called ‘‘orbit’’
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1059

in accordance with an FCFS discipline. That is, only the customer at the head of the orbit queue is
allowed for access to the server. Successive inter-retrial times of any customer are governed by an
arbitrary probability distribution function AðxÞ, with corresponding density function aðxÞ and
Laplace–Stieltjes transform c ðhÞ. If the server is idle, an arriving (primary or retrial) customer
must start (turn-on) the server, which takes negligible time. If the server is started successfully
(with a certain probability), the customer gets service immediately. Otherwise, the ‘‘repair’’ for the
server commences immediately and the customer must leave for the orbit and make a retrial at a
later time. Successive service times are independent with common probability distribution func-
tion BðxÞ, density function bðxÞ, Laplace–Stieltjes transform b ðhÞ and first three moments b1 , b2
and b3 . Similarly the successive repair times are independent and identically distributed with
probability distribution function DðxÞ, density function dðxÞ, Laplace–Stieltjes transform / ðhÞ
and first three moments /1 , /2 and /3 .
After the customer is served completely, he will decide either to join the retrial group again for
another service with probability p or to leave the system forever with probability qð¼ 1  pÞ. We
assume that the probability of successful commencement of service is d for a new customer who
finds the server idle and sees no other customer in the orbit (the counterpart of a customer who
starts a busy period in the standard M/G/1 system) and is a for all other new and returning
customers. Interarrival times, retrial times, service times and breakdown times are assumed to be
mutually independent. From this description, it is clear that at any service completion, the server
becomes free and in such a case, a possible new (primary) arrival and the one (if any) at the head
of the orbit queue, compete for service.
The state of the system at time t can be described by the Markov process fNðtÞ; t P 0g ¼
fðCðtÞ; X ðtÞ; n0 ðtÞ; n1 ðtÞ; n2 ðtÞÞ; t P 0g, where CðtÞ denotes the server state (0, 1 or 2 according as
the server being free, busy or down respectively) and X ðtÞ corresponds to the number of customers
in orbit at time t. If CðtÞ ¼ 0 and X ðtÞ > 0, then n0 ðtÞ represents the elapsed retrial time, if CðtÞ ¼
1, then n1 ðtÞ corresponds to the elapsed time of the customer being served, if CðtÞ ¼ 2 and X ðtÞ >
0, then n2 ðtÞ represents the elapsed repair time at time t. The functions rðxÞ; lðxÞ and gðxÞ
are the conditional completion rates (at time x) for repeated attempts, for service and for re-
pair, respectively; i.e., rðxÞ ¼ aðxÞð1  AðxÞÞ1 , lðxÞ ¼ bðxÞð1  BðxÞÞ1 and gðxÞ ¼ dðxÞð1  DðxÞÞ1 .
In the following sub-section, we obtain the ergodicity condition for the model under consider-
ation.

2.2. Ergodicity condition

We first obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for the system to be stable. To this end,
in the following theorem we establish the ergodicity of the embedded Markov chain at departure/
repair completion epochs. Let ftn ; n 2 Ng be the sequence of epochs at which either a service
completion occurs or a repair period ends. The sequence of random vectors Xn ¼ ðCðtn þÞ; X ðtn þÞÞ
forms a Markov chain, which is the embedded Markov chain for our queueing system. Its state
space is S ¼ f0; 1; 2g
f1; 2; 3; . . .g [ ð0; 0Þ.

Theorem 1. Let Xn be the orbit length at the time of either nth customer’s departure or repair
completion, n P 1. Then fXn ; n P 1g is ergodic if and only if aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ, where
a ¼ 1  a.
1060 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

Proof. It is not difficult to see that fXn ; n P 1g is an irreducible and aperiodic Markov chain. To
prove ergodicity, we shall use FosterÕs criterion: An irreducible and aperiodic Markov chain is
ergodic if there exists a non-negative function f ðjÞ, j 2 N and  > 0 such that the mean drift wj ¼
E½f ðXnþ1 Þ  f ðXn Þ=Xn ¼ j is finite for all j 2 N and wj 6   for all j 2 N , except perhaps a finite
number j.
In our case, we consider the function f ðjÞ ¼ j. Then we have


dðkb1 þ pÞ þ dð1 þ k/1 Þ; for j ¼ 0
wj ¼ 
aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ  c ðkÞ; for j ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . .

where d ¼ 1  d. Clearly, the inequality aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ is a sufficient condition
for ergodicity. The same inequality is also necessary for ergodicity. As noted in Sennott et al. [23],
we can guarantee non-ergodicity of the Markov chain fXn ; n P 1g, if it satisfies KaplanÕs condi-
tion, namely wj < 1 for all j P 0 and there exits j0 2 N such that wj P 0 for j P j0 . Notice that, in
our case, KaplanÕs condition is satisfied because rij ¼ 0 for j < i  1 and i > 0, where R ¼ ðrij Þ is
the one step transition matrix of fXn ; n P 1g. Then, aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ P c ðkÞ implies the
non-ergodicity of the Markov chain. 

Since the arrival stream is a Poisson process, it can be shown from BurkeÕs theorem (see [10, pp.
187–188]) that the steady state probabilities of fðCðtÞ; X ðtÞÞ; t P 0g exist and is positive if and only
if aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ.
From the mean drift wj ¼ aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ  c ðkÞ, for j P 1, we have the reasonable
conclusion that the term aðkb1 þ pÞ has components on successful commencement of service with
probability a by any customer: new arrivals during the busy period of the server ðkb1 Þ and the
served customer joining the orbit (feedback) with probability p. The term að1 þ k/1 Þ also has two
components at the unsuccessful commencement of service with probability a: the approached
customer (resulting in breakdown of server) joining the orbit and the new arrivals during the
breakdown ðk/1 Þ. Further, c ðkÞ gives the expected number of orbiting customers who enter
service successfully, given that the previous service time leaves j customers in the orbit. For sta-
bility, we require that new customers must arrive during a service time and repair time more
slowly than orbiting customers seeking service, at the commencement of service. That is aðkb1 þ
pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ.

3. Steady state distribution

For the process fX ðtÞ; t P 0g, we define the probability

P0 ðtÞ ¼ P fCðtÞ ¼ 0; X ðtÞ ¼ 0g
and the probability densities
Pn ðx; tÞ dx ¼ P fCðtÞ ¼ 0; X ðtÞ ¼ n; x 6 n0 ðtÞ < x þ dxg; for t P 0; x P 0 and n P 1
Qn ðx; tÞ dx ¼ P fCðtÞ ¼ 1; X ðtÞ ¼ n; x 6 n1 ðtÞ < x þ dxg; for t P 0; x P 0 and n P 0
and
Rn ðx; tÞ dx ¼ P fCðtÞ ¼ 2; X ðtÞ ¼ n; x 6 n2 ðtÞ < x þ dxg; for t P 0; x P 0 and n P 1:
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1061

By the method of supplementary variable technique, (see for instance, [19]), we obtain the
following system of equations that govern the dynamics of the system behaviour:
Z 1
dP0 ðtÞ
¼ kP0 ðtÞ þ q Q0 ðx; tÞlðxÞ dx ð3:1Þ
dt 0

oPn ðx; tÞ oPn ðx; tÞ

þ ¼ ðk þ rðxÞÞPn ðx; tÞ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:2Þ
ot ox
oQ0 ðx; tÞ oQ0 ðx; tÞ
þ ¼ ðk þ lðxÞÞQ0 ðx; tÞ ð3:3Þ
ot ox
oQn ðx; tÞ oQn ðx; tÞ
þ ¼ ðk þ lðxÞÞQn ðx; tÞ þ kQn1 ðx; tÞ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:4Þ
ot ox
oR1 ðx; tÞ oR1 ðx; tÞ
þ ¼ ðk þ gðxÞÞR1 ðx; tÞ ð3:5Þ
ot ox
oRn ðx; tÞ oRn ðx; tÞ
þ ¼ ðk þ gðxÞÞRn ðx; tÞ þ kRn1 ðx; tÞ; n ¼ 2; 3; 4; . . . ð3:6Þ
ot ox
with the boundary conditions
Z 1 Z 1 Z 1
Pn ð0; tÞ ¼ q Qn ðx; tÞlðxÞ dx þ p Qn1 ðx; tÞlðxÞ dx þ Rn ðx; tÞgðxÞ dx; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . .
0 0 0
ð3:7Þ
Z 1
Q0 ð0; tÞ ¼ dkP0 ðtÞ þ a P1 ðx; tÞrðxÞ dx ð3:8Þ
0
Z 1 Z 1
Qn ð0; tÞ ¼ ak Pn ðx; tÞ dx þ a Pnþ1 ðx; tÞrðxÞ dx; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:9Þ
0 0
Z 1
R1 ð0; tÞ ¼ dkP0 ðtÞ þ a P1 ðx; tÞrðxÞ dx ð3:10Þ
0
Z 1 Z 1
Rn ð0; tÞ ¼ ak Pn1 ðx; tÞ dx þ a Pn ðx; tÞrðxÞ dx; n ¼ 2; 3; 4; . . . ð3:11Þ
0 0

and the normalizing condition

1 Z 1
X 1 Z
X 1 1 Z
X 1
P0 ðtÞ þ Pn ðx; tÞ dx þ Qn ðx; tÞ dx þ Rn ðx; tÞ dx ¼ 1: ð3:12Þ
n¼1 0 n¼0 0 n¼1 0

We assume that the condition aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ is fulfilled so that we can set
P0 ¼ limt!1 P0 ðtÞ and the limiting densities
Pn ðxÞ ¼ lim Pn ðx; tÞ; for x P 0 and n P 1
t!1
1062 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

Qn ðxÞ ¼ lim Qn ðx; tÞ; for x P 0 and n P 0

t!1

and
Rn ðxÞ ¼ lim Rn ðx; tÞ; for x P 0 and n P 1:
t!1

Letting t ! 1 in Eqs. (3.1)–(3.12), we have

Z 1
kP0 ¼ q Q0 ðxÞlðxÞ dx ð3:13Þ
0

dPn ðxÞ
¼ ðk þ rðxÞÞPn ðxÞ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:14Þ
dx
dQ0 ðxÞ
¼ ðk þ lðxÞÞQ0 ðxÞ ð3:15Þ
dx
dQn ðxÞ
¼ ðk þ lðxÞÞQn ðxÞ þ kQn1 ðxÞ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:16Þ
dx
dR1 ðxÞ
¼ ðk þ gðxÞÞR1 ðxÞ ð3:17Þ
dx
dRn ðxÞ
¼ ðk þ gðxÞÞRn ðxÞ þ kRn1 ðxÞ; n ¼ 2; 3; 4; . . . : ð3:18Þ
dx
The steady state boundary conditions are
Z 1 Z 1 Z 1
Pn ð0Þ ¼ q Qn ðxÞlðxÞ dx þ p Qn1 ðxÞlðxÞ dx þ Rn ðxÞgðxÞ dx; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . .
0 0 0
ð3:19Þ
Z 1
Q0 ð0Þ ¼ dkP0 þ a P1 ðxÞrðxÞ dx ð3:20Þ
0
Z 1 Z 1
Qn ð0Þ ¼ ak Pn ðxÞdx þ a Pnþ1 ðxÞrðxÞ dx; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; . . . ð3:21Þ
0 0
Z 1
R1 ð0Þ ¼ dkP0 þ a P1 ðxÞrðxÞ dx ð3:22Þ
0
Z 1 Z 1
Rn ð0Þ ¼ ak Pn1 ðxÞdx þ a Pn ðxÞrðxÞ dx; n ¼ 2; 3; 4; . . . ð3:23Þ
0 0

and the normalizing condition is

1 Z 1
X 1 Z
X 1 1 Z
X 1
P0 þ Pn ðxÞ dx þ Qn ðxÞ dx þ Rn ðxÞ dx ¼ 1: ð3:24Þ
n¼1 0 n¼0 0 n¼1 0
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1063

To solve Eqs. (3.13)–(3.24), we define the generating functions

X
1 X
1 X
1
P ðx; zÞ ¼ Pn ðxÞzn ; Qðx; zÞ ¼ Qn ðxÞzn and Rðx; zÞ ¼ Rn ðxÞzn :
n¼1 n¼0 n¼1

The following theorem discusses the steady state distribution of the system.

Theorem 2. If aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ, then the joint steady state distribution of
fX ðtÞ; t P 0g is obtained as
Rx
kx rðuÞ du
P0 kzfðpz þ qÞdb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ zd/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1ge 0
P ðx; zÞ ¼ ð3:25Þ
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
( )
ka½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fðpz þ qÞdb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ zd/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
Qðx; zÞ ¼ P0 dk þ
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
Rx
kð1zÞx lðuÞ du

e 0 ð3:26Þ
( )
kza½z þ ð1  zÞc 
ðkÞ fðpz þ qÞdb 
ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z d/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
Rðx; zÞ ¼ P0 dzk þ
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
Rx
kð1zÞx gðuÞ du

e 0 ð3:27Þ

where
Z 1 Rx
  lðuÞ du kð1zÞx
b ðkð1  zÞÞ ¼ lðxÞe 0 e dx
Z0 1 Rx
 gðuÞ du kð1zÞx
/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ¼ gðxÞe 0 e dx
0
Z 1 Rx
 kx  o rðuÞ du
c ðkÞ ¼ rðxÞe e dx
0

and the probability P0 can be determined from the normalization condition.

Proof. Multiplying Eqs. (3.13)–(3.23) by zn and summing over n, n ¼ 0; 1; 2; . . . we obtain the

following equations:
oP ðx; zÞ
þ ðk þ rðxÞÞP ðx; zÞ ¼ 0 ð3:28Þ
ox
oQðx; zÞ
þ ½kð1  zÞ þ lðxÞ Qðx; zÞ ¼ 0 ð3:29Þ
ox
oRðx; zÞ
þ ½kð1  zÞ þ gðxÞ Rðx; zÞ ¼ 0 ð3:30Þ
ox
1064 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075
Z 1 Z 1
P ð0; zÞ ¼ ðpz þ qÞ Qðx; zÞlðxÞ dx þ Rðx; zÞgðxÞ dx  kP0 ð3:31Þ
0 0
Z 1 Z 1
a
Qð0; zÞ ¼ dkP0 þ ak P ðx; zÞ dx þ P ðx; zÞrðxÞ dx ð3:32Þ
0 z 0
Z 1 Z 1
Rð0; zÞ ¼ zkdP0 þ akz pðx; zÞ dx þ a P ðx; zÞrðxÞ dx: ð3:33Þ
0 0

Solving the partial differential Eqs. (3.28)–(3.30), we obtain

Rx
kx rðuÞ du
P ðx; zÞ ¼ P ð0; zÞe 0 ð3:34Þ
Rx
kð1zÞx lðuÞ du
Qðx; zÞ ¼ Qð0; zÞe 0 ð3:35Þ
Rx
kð1zÞx gðuÞ du
Rðx; zÞ ¼ Rð0; zÞe 0 : ð3:36Þ
Using (3.35) and (3.36) in (3.31) and solving for P ð0; zÞ, after some algebraic manipulations, we
get,
P0 kzfðpz þ qÞdb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ zd/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
P ð0; zÞ ¼ : ð3:37Þ
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z
a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
Combining (3.34), (3.37) and (3.32) and on simplification we have
( )
ka½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fðpz þ qÞdb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ zd/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
Qð0; zÞ ¼ P0 dk þ :
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z
a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
ð3:38Þ
Similarly, substituting (3.34) and (3.37) into (3.33) we get
( )
kz
a½z þ ð1  zÞc
ðkÞ fðpz þ qÞdb
ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z / ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
d
Rð0; zÞ ¼ P0 dzk þ :
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z
a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
ð3:39Þ
Combining (3.34)–(3.39), we obtain the required results (3.25)–(3.27). 

R 1For the limiting probability

R1 R 1 P ðx; zÞ, Qðx; zÞ and Rðx; zÞ we define P ðzÞ ¼
generating functions
0
P ðx; zÞ dx, QðzÞ ¼ 0
Qðx; zÞ dx, and RðzÞ ¼ 0
Rðx; zÞ dx and the probability generating func-
tion of the number of customers in the system under steady state is KðzÞ ¼ P0 þ P ðzÞ þ
zQðzÞ þ RðzÞ. Then the main result is given by

Theorem 3. If aðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ k/1 Þ < c ðkÞ, then

P0 ½1  c ðkÞ zfðpz þ qÞdb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ zd/ ðkð1  zÞÞ  1g
P ðzÞ ¼ ð3:40Þ
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ za/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1065

P0 ½1  b ðkð1  zÞÞ fdz  ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fðd  aÞzg ðkð1  zÞÞ þ agg
QðzÞ ¼ ð3:41Þ
ð1  zÞfz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g

zP0 ½1  / ðkð1  zÞÞ fdz  ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fða  dÞðpz þ qÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ agg
RðzÞ ¼
ð1  zÞfz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
ð3:42Þ
and
P0 f½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fqb ðkð1  zÞÞðz/ ðkð1  zÞÞða  dÞ  aÞg þ dzqb ðkð1  zÞÞg
KðzÞ ¼
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ za/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g
ð3:43Þ
where
c ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þ
P0 ¼ : ð3:44Þ
qdc ðkÞ þ qða  dÞð1 þ k/1 Þ

Proof. Integrating the Eqs. (3.25)–(3.27) from 0 to 1 with respect to x, we obtain respectively
(3.40)–(3.42). At this point, the only unknown is P0 which can be determined using the normal-
izing condition, P0 þ P ð1Þ þ Qð1Þ þ Rð1Þ ¼ 1. Thus, setting z ¼ 1 in (3.40)–(3.42) and applying
LÕ HospitalÕs rule whenever necessary, we get after using the normalizing condition and rear-
rangement
( )
qdc ðkÞ þ qða  dÞð1 þ k/1 Þ
P0  ¼1
c ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þ
which yields (3.44).
Finally, the probability generating function KðzÞ ¼ P0 þ P ðzÞ þ zQðzÞ þ RðzÞ of the number of
customers in the system is obtained by using (3.40)–(3.42) and some mathematical manipulations
yield (3.43). 

Remark 1. If a ¼ d ¼ q ¼ 1, then (3.43) and (3.44) become

½c ðkÞ  kb1 ð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ
KðzÞ ¼ ð3:45Þ
c ðkÞð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ  z½1  b ðkð1  zÞÞ
and
kb1
P0 ¼ 1  : ð3:46Þ
c ðkÞ
The above results (3.45) and (3.46) agree with Gomez-Corral [17] without feedback and starting
failures.

Remark 2. Further, if the retrial time distribution is exponential with parameter m, then c ðkÞ ¼ m=
ðk þ mÞ. In this case (3.45) yields
1066 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

ð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ½m  ðk þ mÞkb1

KðzÞ ¼ : ð3:47Þ
m½b ðkð1  zÞÞ þ kz½b ðkð1  zÞÞ  1
The Eq. (3.47) coincides with the Eq. (2.13) in [7]. When the service time has an exponential
distribution with parameter l, Eq. (3.47) agrees with Proposition 1 in [14].

We now obtain some performance measures for the system in steady state. Let U be the server
utilization, (or the steady state probability that the server is attending a customer) that is the
server is busy, I, the steady state probability that the server is idle during the retrial time, R,
the steady state probability that the server is under repair and D, the steady state probability that
the server is down or idle. From Theorem 3, we obtain:
kb1
U ¼ Qð1Þ ¼
q
ð1  c ðkÞÞfdkb1  dq þ 1 þ dk/1 g
I ¼ P ð1Þ ¼
ða  dÞqð1 þ k/1 Þ þ dqc ðkÞ
k/ fdc ðkÞ  ða  dÞðp þ kb1 Þg
R ¼ Rð1Þ ¼ 1
ða  dÞqð1 þ k/1 Þ þ dqc ðkÞ
and
kb1
D ¼ P0 þ P ð1Þ þ Rð1Þ ¼ 1  :
q
The mean number of customers in the system Ls under steady state conditions is obtained by
differentiating (3.43) with respect to z and evaluation at z ¼ 1,
ða  dÞfk2 /2 þ 2/1 k þ 2ð1 þ k/1 Þ½1  c ðkÞ þ kb1 g þ 2kb1 dc ðkÞ
Ls ¼
2½ða  dÞð1 þ k/1 Þ þ dc ðkÞ
2
k ðab2 þ a/2 Þ þ 2kðpab1 þ a/1 Þ þ 2ð1  c ðkÞÞfaðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ kb1 Þg
þ :
2½c ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þ
The orbit characteristics are of considerable interest in retrial queues. Artalejo and Falin [1]
have discussed the orbit busy and idle period for M/G/1 retrial queue with exponentially dis-
tributed retrial times. For the model under consideration, we obtain the probability of orbit being
empty as
V ¼ P 0 þ Q0
where Q0 is the probability that the orbit is empty while the server is busy and P0 is the probability
of an empty system. We observe that
P0 ½1  b ðkÞ
Q0 ¼
qb ðkÞ
where P0 is as given in (3.34) and
fc ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þgð1  pb ðkÞÞ
V ¼ :
qb ðkÞfqdc ðkÞ þ qða  dÞð1 þ k/1 Þg
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1067

Define H ðzÞ ¼ P0 þ P ðzÞ þ QðzÞ þ RðzÞ. Then H ðzÞ represents the probability generating function
for the number of customers in the orbit. Using (3.40)–(3.42) and simplifying, we get
H ðzÞ
P0 ff½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ z/ ðkð1  zÞÞ½1  pb ðkð1  zÞÞ þ pzb ðkð1  zÞÞ  zgða  dÞ þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ½b ðkð1  zÞÞap  a g
¼
fz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z
a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g

Hence, the mean number of customers in the orbit is given by

Lq ¼ H 0 ð1Þ
ða  dÞf2ð1 þ k/1 Þ½qð1  c ðkÞÞ  pkb1 þ kqð2/1 þ k/2 Þg  2kpb1 dc ðkÞ
¼
2½ða  dÞqð1 þ k/1 Þ þ qdc ðkÞ
2ð1  c ðkÞÞfaðkb1 þ pÞ þ að1 þ kb1 Þg þ k2 ðab2 þ a/2 Þ þ 2kðpab1 þ a/1 Þ
þ :
2½c ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þ
Let Ws be the average time a customer spends in the system under steady state. Due to LittleÕs
formula, we have
Ls
Ws ¼
k
Another interesting performance measure in the retrial context is the mean of the system busy
period. The system busy period L is defined as the period that starts at an epoch when an arriving
customer finds an empty system and ends at the next departure epoch at which the system is
empty. The mean length of the system busy period of our model is obtained in direct way by the
theory of regenerative processes which leads to the limiting probabilities
P0 ¼ lim P fðCðtÞ; X ðtÞÞ ¼ ð0; 0Þg
t!1

as follows:
EðT00 Þ
P0 ¼ 1
k
þ EðLÞ

where T00 is the amount of time in a regenerative cycle during which the system is in the state
ð0; 0Þ. It is clear that
1
EðT00 Þ ¼
k
so that
1
EðLÞ ¼ ðP01  1Þ:
k
Using Eq. (3.44), we get
( )
1 1 þ qdðc ðkÞ  k/1  1Þ þ ða þ qkÞk/1 þ akb1  c ðkÞ
EðLÞ ¼ :
k c ðkÞ  aðkb1 þ pÞ  að1 þ k/1 Þ
1068 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

4. Numerical examples

In this section, we present some numerical examples to study the effect of the parameters on the
system performance like mean system size, probability of no customers in the system and prob-
ability of orbit being empty.
In Fig. 1(a)–(c), the mean system size Ls is compared with varying values of the feedback
probability p, the probability a of the customers getting successful commencement of service (for
new and retrial customers) and the retrial rate m respectively. The service time distribution is
assumed to be exponential with rate l, the retrial time distributions are exponential ðaðxÞ ¼ memx Þ,
2
Erlangian of order two ðaðxÞ ¼ m2 xemx Þ and Hyper exponential ðaðxÞ ¼ cmemx þ ð1  cÞm2 em x Þ,
for the chosen parametric values.
Fig. 1(a) shows that the mean system size increases at a slower rate followed by a steep increase,
for the parametric values ðk; l; m; a; d; cÞ ¼ ð0:5; 20; 25; 0:9; 0:5; 0:7Þ.
Fig. 1(b) displays the steep decrease of the mean system size and stabilizing subsequently for
increasing values of a, corresponding to the parametric values ðk; l; m; p; d; cÞ ¼ ð0:3; 25; 30;
0:4; 0:4; 0:9Þ.
The Fig. 1(c) depicts the effect of the retrial time distribution on the mean number of customers
Ls in the system in steady state for the parametric values ðk; l; a; p; d; cÞ ¼ ð0:2; 10; 0:8; 0:3;
0:6; 0:4Þ. The curve shows that Ls converges to the corresponding quantities related to an M/G/1
feedback queue with starting failure, as m increases to 1, as we expected when the mean retrial
time converges to zero. Besides, the curve shows that the mean number of customers in the M/G/1
feedback queue with starting failure is a lower bound for the mean number of customers in the
retrial queues under consideration.
In Fig. 2(a)–(c), the variation of P0 , the probability of no customers in the system is studied for
increasing values of the feedback probability p, the probability of the customers getting successful
commencement of service a and retrial rate m. Here also the service time is assumed to be expo-
nential, Erlangian of order two and Hyper exponential, as before. We observe that in Fig. 2(a) the
probability P0 decreases marginally in the beginning as the feedback probability p increases fol-
lowed by a steeper decrease later for the chosen parametric values satisfying the ergodicity con-
dition.
In Fig. 2(b) and (c), initially there is a steeper increase in probability P0 which stabilizes for
increasing values of a and m respectively. Fig. 3(a)–(c) displays a similar trend as that of Fig. 2(a)–
(c) for the variation of V0 , the probability of zero orbit size, corresponding to variation in
probabilities p, a and retrial rate m, for the chosen parametric values. In all the above cases, the
parametric values are chosen so as to satisfy the ergodic condition.

5. Stochastic decomposition and special cases

Stochastic decomposition has been widely observed among M/G/1 type queues with server
vacations (see, for example, [9,11,16,21]). A key result, in these analysis is that the number of
customers in the system in steady state at a random point in time is distributed as the sum of two
independent random variables, one of which is the number of customers in the corresponding
standard M/G/1 queueing system (in steady state) at a random point in time. The other random
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1069

Fig. 1. (a) Mean system size (Ls ) versus feedback probability (p) (l ¼ 20, k ¼ 0:5, m ¼ 25, a ¼ 0:9, d ¼ 0:5, c ¼ 0:7);
(b) mean system size (Ls ) versus a (l ¼ 25, k ¼ 0:3, m ¼ 30, p ¼ 0:4, d ¼ 0:4, c ¼ 0:9); (c) mean system size (Ls ) versus
retrial rate (m) (l ¼ 10, k ¼ 0:2, a ¼ 0:8, p ¼ 0:3, d ¼ 0:6, c ¼ 0:4).
1070 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

Fig. 2. (a) P0 versus feedback probability (p) (l ¼ 20, k ¼ 0:3, m ¼ 25, a ¼ 0:5, d ¼ 0:6, c ¼ 0:8); (b) P0 versus a
(l ¼ 20, k ¼ 0:3, m ¼ 25, p ¼ 0:4, d ¼ 0:6, c ¼ 0:8); (c) P0 versus retrial rate (m) (l ¼ 15, k ¼ 0:3, a ¼ 0:9, p ¼ 0:4,
d ¼ 0:6, c ¼ 0:3).
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1071

Fig. 3. (a) The probability of empty orbit (V) versus p (l ¼ 10, k ¼ 0:4, m ¼ 20, a ¼ 0:8, d ¼ 0:2, c ¼ 0:7); (b) V ver-
sus a (l ¼ 25, k ¼ 0:4, m ¼ 35, p ¼ 0:5, d ¼ 0:3, c ¼ 0:9); (c) V versus m (l ¼ 15, k ¼ 0:3, a ¼ 0:8, p ¼ 0:3, d ¼ 0:3,
c ¼ 0:5).
1072 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

variable may have different probabilistic interpretations in specific cases depending on how the
vacations are scheduled.
Stochastic decomposition has also been observed to hold for some M/G/1 retrial queues
[2,28]. Our retrial queue with feedback and server subject to starting failure can be thought of as
an M/G/1 queue with generalized vacations [16] in which the vacation begins at the end of each
service time and the server is turned on successfully (started successfully) again (with cer-
tain probability) according to a competition between Poisson arrival rate k > 0 (corresponding
to primary customers) and the general retrial time distribution (corresponding to a retrial cus-
tomer).
Let PðzÞ be the probability generating function of the number of customers in the M/G/1
queueing system with Bernoulli feedback (see [24]) in steady state at a random point in time, vðzÞ
be the probability generating function of the number of customers in the vacation system at a
random point in time given that the server is on vacation and KðzÞ be the probability generating
function of the random variable being decomposed. Then, the mathematical version of the sto-
chastic decomposition law is
KðzÞ ¼ PðzÞvðzÞ: ð5:1Þ
We now verify that the decomposition law applied to the retrial model analyzed in this paper. For
the M/G/1 queue with Bernoulli feedback queueing system [24], we have
ðq  kb1 Þð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ
PðzÞ ¼ : ð5:2Þ
ðpz þ qÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ  z
To obtain an expression for vðzÞ we first define vacation in our context. We say that the server is
on vacation if the server is either under repair or idle. (Note that in retrial queues, there may be
customers in the system even when the server is idle.) Under this definition, we have
P0 þ P ðzÞ þ RðzÞ
vðzÞ ¼ :
P0 þ P ð1Þ þ Rð1Þ
Using the results (3.40), (3.42) and (3.44) of Theorem 3, we obtain
P0 f½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ fz/ ðkð1  zÞÞða  dÞ  ag þ dzg½ðpz þ qÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ  z
vðzÞ ¼ ð5:3Þ
ð1  kbq 1 Þð1  zÞfz  ½ðpz þ qÞab ðkð1  zÞÞ þ z
a/ ðkð1  zÞÞ ½z þ ð1  zÞc ðkÞ g

where P0 is given in (3.44).

From (3.43), we observe that KðzÞ ¼ PðzÞvðzÞ, which confirms that the decomposition law of
[16] is also valid for this special vacation system. However, we must point out that if the idle
periods were not considered as vacations, the decomposition law would not apply here (even if we
use the M/G/1 retrial queue with Bernoulli feedback as the base system) due to interference be-
tween customer retrials and server vacations.
We now discuss some special cases and interpret the corresponding implications of the sto-
chastic decomposition law.
Case (i): If q ¼ 1 and a ¼ d ¼ 1, then RðzÞ ¼ 0 and hence the system reduces to M/G/1 retrial
queue with general retrial time distribution [17]. Thus, the probability generating function of the
number of customers in the system KðzÞ becomes
 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075 1073

P0 þ P ðzÞ
KðzÞ ¼ PðzÞ ð5:4Þ
limt!1 P ðCðtÞ ¼ 0Þ
R1
where P ðzÞ ¼ 0 P ðx; zÞ dx as in Eq. (3.40) with q ¼ d ¼ a ¼ 1, P0 ¼ 1  ðkb1 =c ðkÞÞ and PðzÞ is
the the probability generating function of the number of customers present in the standard M/G/1
queue, that is
ð1  kb1 Þð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ
PðzÞ ¼ :
b ðkð1  zÞÞ  z Rt
R1  rðxÞ dx
Case (ii): If q ¼ a ¼ 1, d ¼ 0 and c ðkÞ ¼ 0 ekt rðtÞe 0 dt ! 1, then the system reduces to
the M/G/1 queue with setup times [25]. As c ðkÞ ! 1, customers in the system will be always
available for service and therefore when the server is idle there must be no customers in the
system. Since d ¼ 0 and q ¼ a ¼ 1, the customer who starts a busy period always causes the server
to warm up or to undergo repair with probability one, after which all customers arrived in the
busy period (including those, if any, arrived during the setup period) are served under FCFS basis.
In this case, the generating function KðzÞ becomes
ð1  kb1 Þð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ 1  z/ ðkð1  zÞÞ
KðzÞ ¼ ð5:5Þ
b ðkð1  zÞÞ  z ð1  zÞð1 þ k/1 Þ
which is consistent with the results in [25].
According to the decomposition law, we have
½1  z/ ðkð1  zÞÞ
vðzÞ ¼ ð5:6Þ
ð1  zÞð1 þ k/1 Þ
which is the generating function of the number of customers present in the system in steady state
at a random point in time, given that the server is warming up. However, a more insightful in-
terpretation allows from the observation that wðzÞ ¼ z/ ðkð1  zÞÞ is the probability generating
function of the number of customers (including the one who starts the busy period) present in the
system when the server return after warming up. From (5.6), we can rewrite vðzÞ as
1  wðzÞ
vðzÞ ¼ 0 ð5:7Þ
w ð1Þð1  zÞ
which implies that vðzÞ is also the probability generating function of the number of customers
arrived during a time interval that is distributed as the equilibrium backward recurrence (ex-
panded) time of a warming up period [15].
Case (iii): If a ¼ 1, d ¼ 0 and c ðkÞ ! 1, then the probability generating function of the number
of customers present in the system KðzÞ becomes
ðq  kb1 Þð1  zÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ 1  z/ ðkð1  zÞÞ
KðzÞ ¼ : ð5:8Þ
ðpz þ qÞb ðkð1  zÞÞ  z ð1  zÞð1 þ k/1 Þ
It can be shown that the first factor on the right side of (5.8) is the probability generating function
of the M/G/1 queue with Bernoulli feedback [24] and the second factor is the generating function
of the number of customers present in the system in steady state at a random point in time given
that the server is warming up.
1074 B. Krishna Kumar et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 1057–1075

6. Conclusion

We have discussed a retrial queue with feedback and the server subject to starting failures. We
have assumed that the retrial time is governed by an arbitrary distribution and that the customer
at the head of the orbit queue is allowed for access to the server. The necessary and sufficient
condition for the system to be stable is derived. Some performance measures, such as mean system
size, the server utilization, mean orbit size, the probability of the server being under repair, the
probability of the orbit being empty, etc. are obtained. The effect of the parameters on the per-
formance measures are illustrated graphically. We have shown that the general stochastic de-
composition law for M/G/1 vacation models also holds for our system.

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