The optimal control of an M/G/1 queueing system with server vacations, startup and breakdowns

This paper studies the control policy of the N policy M/G/l queue with server vacations, startup and breakdowns, where arrivals form a Poisson process and service times are generally distributed. The server is turned off and takes a vacation whenever the system is empty. If the number of customers waiting in the system at the instant of a vacation completion is less than N, the server will take another vacation. If the server returns from a vacation and finds at least N customers in the system, he requires a startup time before providing service until the system is again empty. It is assumed that the server breaks down according to a Poisson process and his repair time has a general distribution. The system characteristics of such a model are analyzed and the total expected cost function per unit time is developed to determine the optimal threshold of N at a minimum cost. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.