Polling systems with simultaneous arrivals

The authors analyze polling systems with multiple types of simultaneous arrivals, namely, batches of customers may arrive at the different queues at an arrival epoch. The authors consider cyclic polling systems with N queues, general service time distribution in each queue, and general switchover times. For both the exhaustive and the gated service disciplines the authors derive the necessary equations for computing the N expected waiting time figures. A pseudo conservation law for these system is also derived. The authors compare several special cases of the correlated arrivals polling system, discuss the computational aspects of the numerical method, and examine the applicability of the analysis to other polling systems