On a batch retrial model with vacations

This paper considers a batch arrival retrial queue with general retrial times under a modified vacation policy. Any arriving batch finding the server busy or on vacation enters an orbit. Otherwise, one customer from the arriving batch obtains the service immediately while the rest join the orbit. If the orbit is empty, the server takes at most J vacations repeatedly until at least one customer appears in the orbit upon returning from a vacation. If the orbit is nonempty when the server returns from a vacation, the server waits idly for customers from the orbit or new arrivals. On the other hand, if no customers are recorded in the orbit at the end of the J th vacation, the server waits for new customers to arrive. This retrial system has potential applications in packet-switched networks. By applying the supplementary variable technique, some important system characteristics are derived. The results presented in the paper may be useful for network system designers and software system engineers.