Quality Technology &

Quantitative Management
Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 245-255, 2004
QTQM
ICAQM 2004

A Queueing Model with

Multiple Types of Server Breakdowns
William J. Gray1, P. Patrick Wang2 and Meckinley Scott3
1, 2
Department of Mathematics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
3
Department of Mathematics, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, USA
(Received May 2003, accepted February 2004)
____________________________________________________________________
Abstract: In this paper we consider a general queueing model in which the server may experience several
different types of breakdowns. Each type of breakdown requires a finite random number of stages of
repair. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the stationary queue length distribution to exist.
We then show how to compute the queue length distribution by matrix geometric methods, and we find
an explicit expression for its mean. We also find properties of several random variables associated with
the model, such as the repair time for a server breakdown, a customers completion time, the number of
stages of repair required to restore service, and some relationships among these variables and between
them and the number of breakdowns that occur during a customers completion time. We then discuss
some interesting special cases of the model.

Keywords: M/PH/1 model, mean queue length, queue length distribution, queue server breakdowns.
____________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction

B ecause of the complex interaction between the many components of modern

electromechanical and computer or communication networks, the failure of one
component may cause a sequence of failures, and so a breakdown of the service
mechanism may require several stages of repair. This leads us to consider queueing models
with server breakdowns which require a sequence of stages of testing and/or repair before
service is restored. In this paper we develop one general queueing model where the server
may experience many types of breakdowns, and each type requires a finite random number
of stages of repair before service is restored. Suppose, for example, that the server consists
of M modules, numbered 1, ... , M , where module v consists of K v components, and
where the availability of the server depends on all modules being functional. Suppose that
the components of each module are subject to random breakdowns with random repair
rates, and the malfunction of one component within a module may cause a breakdown of
other components within the same module. The management has determined an order in
which the components within a module are to be tested, and if necessary, repaired (e.g.
ordered by probability of occurrence). Under the assumption that all service, breakdown
and repair times are exponentially distributed, this situation can be modelled by the
methods of this paper.
A few models of this type have been previously considered. Hsieh and Andersland, [3],
studied a model where the server is subject to several types of breakdowns, and each type
has two possible stages of repair. Gray, Wang, and Scott (GWS), [2], consider a model in
which a breakdown may require up to K stages of repair. The repair process proceeds
246 Gray, Wang and Scott

from stage 1 and continues in simple sequential order (1, 2, 3, ) until its completion, i.e. it
reaches the first stage whose repair results in service being restored. In these models
customers arrive according to a Poisson process, and service times, inter-breakdown times,
and repair times for the various repair stages are exponentially distributed. In the case
where breakdowns occur only when the server is busy, these two models are special cases
of the model of this paper. Many of the techniques used in this paper are modifications of
those developed in GWS [2]. For references to many of the other queueing models with
server breakdown, see the references [1] and [5].

Notation
TI : The time required to repair a single breakdown.
TR : The total time spent in repair during the customers processing.
TS : The total time actually spent by a customer in service during processing.
TC : The time from the instant a customer first enters service until the service is
completed; TC = TS + TR . This is the customers completion time or period.
B: The number of breakdowns that occur during a customers completion time.
M : The number of types of breakdowns.
K v : The number of repair stages for breakdown type v , v = 1, ... , M . In the case where
M = 1 , this is denoted by K .
v : The probability that a breakdown is of type v = 1, ... , M .
: The mean arrival rate of customers.
: The uninterrupted service rate of a customer.
: = / .
: = E (TC ) .
b: The mean inter-breakdown time during a completion period is 1/b . The
inter-breakdown time is the minimum of the inter-breakdown times for each of the
breakdown types v = 1, ... , M .
rvi : The repair rate for repair stage i of breakdown type v , i = 1, ... , K v . In the case
M = 1, this is denoted by ri .
qij (v ) : The probability of a transition from repair stage i to stage j during a breakdown
of type v , v = 1, ... , M . We have qij (v ) = 0 unless j = 0, i + 1, ... , K v . In case
M = 1, this is denoted simply by qij .
vi : The probability that repair state i will be performed during a breakdown of type
v , i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M . In the case M = 1, this is denoted by i .
ij (v ) : This is the probability that repair stage j will be performed, given that repair stage
i has been performed, during a breakdown of type v,
i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M , i j .
C0 : The probability that the server is active (not in breakdown). The probability that
there are n customers in the system is denoted by p (n, 0) .
C vi : The probability that repair stage i of a breakdown of type v is being performed.
The probability that there are n customers in the system is denoted by p (n, v , i ) ,
i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M . In the case of M = 1, these are denoted by C i and
p ( n, i ) .
E: The column vector, all of whose components are 1 .
E1 : A unit row vector whose first component is 1.
A Queueing Model with Multiple Server Breakdowns 247

2. The General Sequential Repair Model

We first consider a queueing model with server breakdowns where the uninterrupted
service times are exponential with rate ; it will be assumed that breakdowns occur only
when the server is busy, and the times between breakdowns are exponentially distributed
with rate b . Customers arrive according to a Poisson process with rate . Let TC be a
customers completion time, i.e., the time from the instant a customers service begins until
it is successfully completed; let TI be the repair time for a single breakdown, let TR be the
total repair time during the processing of a customer, and let TS be the customers total
time spent in service; then TC = TS + TR . We assume that service times, inter-breakdown
times, and repair times are independent of each other and the arrival process. The number
of breakdowns, B , during a customers completion time follows a geometric distribution:
Pr ( B = n ) = [b /(b + )]n [ /(b + )], n 0, (1)
E ( B ) = b / , var ( B ) = (b / )(1 + b / ). (2)
Let r (t ) be the density function of TI . In what follows, f g denotes the
convolution of the functions f and g , f ( n ) denotes the n-fold convolution of f with
itself, r denotes the Laplace transform of r , and e ( , x ) = e x . By conditioning on the
number of breakdowns that occur during a customers completion time , we obtain the joint
density of B , TS , and TR :
h(n, x , y ) = [b /( + b )]n [ /( + b )]{e ( n +1) ( + b, x ) }{r ( n ) ( y )} . (3)

We denote the joint generating function of B and the Laplace transform of TS and
TR by K ( z , s1 , s2 ) = E ( z B e s1TS e s2TR ) ; then by ( 3 ) we obtain
K ( z , s1 , s2 ) = /[ + b + s1 bzr( s2 )]. (4)

Note that if TI does not have a density, then an appropriate modification of (3) stills yields
(4) where r ( s2 ) is the LST of TI .
The joint generating function of B and the Laplace transform for the density
function of TR is given by
K ( z , 0, s2 ) = /[ + b zbr ( s2 )]. (5)
To obtain the joint generating function of B and the density function of
TC = TS + TR , let s1 = s2 = s in ( 4 ):
K ( z , s, s ) = E ( z B e sTC ) = /[ + b + s bz r( s )]. (6)
By differentiating (4)-(6) and taking limits as z 1, s1 0, s2 0, and s 0 , as
appropriate, we obtain the following results:

E (TR ) = E ( B ) E (TI ), and var (TR ) = E ( B )var (TI ) + var ( B ){E (TI )}2 , (7)
E (TC ) = 1/ + (b / ) E (TI ), and var (TC ) = (b / ) E (TI2 ) 2
+ {E (TC )} , (8)
cov (TS ,TR ) = E ( B ) E (TS ) E (TI ), (9)
cov (B,TS ) = E ( B ) E (TS ) = b / , 2
(10)
cov ( B, TR ) = V ( B ) E (TI ), and (11)
cov ( B, TC ) = E ( B )[ E (TI ) + E (TC )]. (12)
248 Gray, Wang and Scott
We can use all of the Equations (7)-(12) if we know one of E (TC ), E (TI ) and one of
E (TC2 ), E (TI2 ) .
Now we consider a queueing model with a single server that is subject to breakdown;
breakdowns occur only when the server is busy. When a breakdown occurs, up to K
stages of repair may be required to restore service. These stages are numbered from 1 to K
and repair is performed sequentially. After repair stage i is completed, with
i = 1, ... , K 1, the system will, with a certain probability, return to service, and with
another probability , another stage of repair will be required. It is assumed that if stage K
repair is needed, then upon its completion, the system will always return to service. It is
assumed that customers arrive according to a Poisson process with rate , and that service
times, times between successive breakdowns when the server is busy, and, unless otherwise
specified, that the repair times for each of the repair stages, are exponentially distributed,
are independent of each other, and are also independent of the arrival process. The repair
rates for the various stages of breakdown may be different.
It will be assumed that the exponentially distributed service and inter-breakdown times
have mean 1/ and 1/b, respectively. When a breakdown occurs, a transition to stage i
occurs with probability q0i , i = 1, ... , K , and a transition from stage i to stage j occurs
with probability qij for j = 0, i + 1, ... , K , i = 1, ... , K (here stage 0 corresponds to the
server being operable). We assume that q K 0 = 1, qij = 0 for 1 j < i +1 , and that the
matrix [qij ] is row stochastic. We assume that the repair time for stage i is exponential
with mean 1/ri . We will use the notation = / .
We classify the states for this model as follows:
The class C 0 of states ( n, 0), n = 0, 1, 2, .... Here there are n customers in the system and the
server is operable. The state probability is denoted by p (n, 0) .
The class Ci of states (n, i ), n = 1, 2, 3, ... , i = 1, ... , K . Here there are n customers in the
system and stage i repair is in progress. The state probability is denoted by p (n, i ). For convenience
of notation, we write p (0, i ) = 0 , i > 1 .
We define, for n 0, the vector
x n = [ p (n, 0) p (n,1) p (n, 2) ... p (n, K )] ,

with p (0, i ) = 0 for i 1. Then the balance equations for this model can be written as
x 0 B0 + x1 B1 = 0 , (13)
x n 1 A0 + x n A1 + x n +1 A2 = 0, n 1 , (14)

where the ( K + 1) ( K + 1) matrices B0 , B1 , A0 , A1 , and A2 are given by

A0 = diag ( , ... , ) = I , B0 = A0 , A2 = B1 = diag ( , 0, ... , 0),

b q01b q02b q03b ... q0 K b

q r r1 q12 r1 q13r1 ... q1K r1
10 1
q20 r2 0 r2 q 23 r2 ... q2 K r2 . (15)
A1 =
... ... ... ... ... ...
q r 0 0 0 ... q K 1,K rK 1
K 1,0 K 1
rK 0 0 0 ... rK

A Queueing Model with Multiple Server Breakdowns 249
We will assume that the qij are such that A1 is irreducible. This model will be called
a ( , , b )-sequential repair breakdown model with repair parameters
( K ,{qij , i , j = 0 ... K , ri , i = 1 ... K }) .
We define two vectors that will be frequently used here by
E = [11...1]T , (16)
and
E1 = [10 0 ... 0]. (17)
We now can apply the results of Theorem 3.2.1 of Neuts [4]. Our model can viewed as
an M/PH/1 queue with representation ( E1 , S ), where S = A1 + I and E1 is the
K + 1 vector defined in (17). Whenever = E (TC ) < 1 , we have p (0, 0) = 1 , and the
queue length distribution of the model is given by
[ p (0, 0) x1 x 2 ...] ,
where x n = x 0 R n for n 1 , R = ( B 00 A1 ) 1 , and B 00 is the ( K + 1) ( K + 1)
matrix all of whose rows are E1 ; when = E (TC ) < 1 , it follows from Neuts [4], that
sp ( R ) < 1 .
Let i , i = 1, ... , K be the conditional probability that stage i repair will be required
before service is restored, given that the server is not operable. The i satisfy the
recursive relations
1 = q01, and i = q0i + ij=11 q ji j , i 1. (18)

For 1 i j K , let ij be the probability that stage j repair will be required before
service is restored, given that stage i repair has to be performed. The satisfy the relations
ii = 1 and ij = vj =i1 qvj iv , j > i . (19)

Now let J i = 1 if stage i repair is required, and let J i = 0 otherwise, i = 1, ... , K .

Then E ( J i ) = E ( J i2 ) = i , E (J i J j ) = Pr ( stage i and stage j repairs are required ) = i ij and
cov ( J i , J j ) = i ( ij j ). Let Ri be the time required for stage repair. Then
TI = iK=1 J i Ri , (20)
and hence
E (TI ) = iK=1 i (1/ ri ). (21)

From the fact that E (TR ) = E ( B ) E (TI ) , (8) and (21) we obtain

E (TC ) = (1/ ){1 + iK=1 i (b / ri )}. (22)

From Equation (22), we obtain the necessary and sufficient condition for
sp ( R ) < 1, and for the queue length distribution to exist:

= {1 + iK=1 i (b / ri )} < 1. (23)

From the fact that the RI are independent, we see that E ( J i2 Ri2 ) = i (2 /ri2 ) and
when i j , E ( J i J j Ri R j ) = i ij (1/ri r j ); therefore we have

E (TI2 ) = 2 Kj=1 ij=1 i ij (1/ ri r j ). (24)

We also need E (TC2 ); from (8) and (24) we have
250 Gray, Wang and Scott
E (TC2 ) = 2(b / ) Kj=1 ij=1 i ij (1/ ri r j ) + 2{E (TC )}2 . (25)

From (25) and the formula for the mean queue length of the M/G/1 queue, we find
the mean queue length for this model:

L = { + Kj=1 ij=1 ( i ij b )/(ri r j )}/(1 ). (26)

In GWS [2], the probabilities for the various classes of states are given:
p (C 0 ) = + 1 , and p (C i ) = i (b / ri ), i = 1, ... , K . (27)

Let J be the number of stages of repair required to restore service; since

J = iK=1 J i , this gives

E ( J ) = iK=1 i and var ( J ) = iK=1 i (1 i ) + 2 iK=11 Kj =i +1 i ( ij j ). (28)

We now consider a model in which there are M types, or modes, of breakdowns that
can occur. The arrival rate is , the uninterrupted service rate is , and the mean time
between breakdowns when the server is busy is 1/b . When a breakdown occurs, there is a
probability v that is of type v , v = 1, ... , M , vM=1 v = 1 . The repair parameters for type
v breakdown are ( ( K v ,{qij (v ) i , j = 0 ... K v , rvj , j = 1 ... K v }), that is, a type v breakdown
has K v possible stages of repair. The mean repair time for repair stage j is
1/rvj , j = 1, ... , K v . The probability of a transition from repair stage i to stage j is
qij (v ), i , j = 0 ... K v . It is assumed that qij (v ) = 0 unless j = 0, i + 1, ... , K v , q00 (v ) = 0, and
that the matrix [ qij (v ) ] is row stochastic. The matrix corresponding to (15) for the type v
breakdown is assumed to be irreducible. We let vi be the probability that stage i repair
will be required before service is restored, and let ij (v ) be the probability that repair stage
j is required, given that stage i has been performed. We also let TI (v) be the repair time
for a single type v breakdown, let TI be the overall repair time for a single breakdown,
let TR be the repair time during a customers completion time, let TS be the time the
customer spends in service, and let TC denote the customers completion time.
If rv (t) is the density function of TI (v ), v = 1, ... , K v and r (t) is the density function
of TI , then
r (t ) = vM=1 v rv (t ). (29)

From (8), (24), (25), and (29) we deduce that

E (TI ) = vM=1 v iK=v1 vi (1/ rvi ) and E (TI2 ) = 2 vM=1 v Kj =v1 ij=1 vi ij (v ){1/(rvi rvj )}. (30)

From (8) and (30), we find that

E (TC ) = 1/ + (b / ) vM=1 v iK=v1 vi (1/ rvi ). (31)

From (31), the necessary and sufficient condition for the queue length distribution to
exist is
= {1 + vM=1 v iK=v1 vi (b / rvi )} < 1. (32)

It is readily seen that (32) is satisfied by the existence of the queue length distribution
for each of the ( , , b ) -sequential repair breakdown models with repair parameters
( K v ,{qij (v ), i , j = 0... K v , rvi , i = 1... K v }), v = 1, ... , M .
A Queueing Model with Multiple Server Breakdowns 251
From (8), (32), and the formula for the mean queue length of the M /G /1 queue, we
find the mean queue length for this model:

L = { + vM=1 v Kj =v1 ij=1 vi ij (v )[( b )/(rvi rvj )]}/(1 ). (33)

The class of states for this model can be described as follows:

C 0 is the class of states (n, 0) in which the server is operable and there are n customers in the
system, n = 0,1, 2, ... .The probability of this state is denoted by p (n, 0) .
C vi is the class of states (n, v , i ) in which the system is in repair stage i of a type v
breakdown and there are n customers in the system, n = 1, 2, 3, ... , i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M .
The probability of this state is denoted by p (n, v , i ) .
With this notation we have
p(0,0) = 1 . (34)

To calculate the queue length distribution, we first need to define some vectors. Let

K = vM=1 K v
and define the K + 1 vector

x n = [ p (n, 0), p (n,1,1), ... , p (n,1, K1 ), ... , p (n, M ,1), ... , p (n, M , K M )]. (35)

In (35) we take p (0, v , i ) = 0, i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M .

Next define the vectors

Qv = [ v q01 (v )b, v q02 (v )b, ... , v q0 K v (v )b ], v = 1, ... , M ,

Pv = [q10 (v )rv1 , q20 (v )rv 2, , ... , q K v 0 (v )rvK v ]T , v = 1, ... , M .

Next define the matrices

rv1 q12 (v )rv1 q13 (v )rv1 ... q1K v (v )rv1

0 rv 2 q23 (v )rv 2 ... q23 (v )rv 2
A1v = ... ... ... ... ... ,

0 0 0 ... q K v 1, K v (v )rv , K v 1

0 0 0 ... rvK v

v = 1, ... , M . Now define the ( K + 1) ( K + 1) matrices:

A0 = diag ( , ... , ) = I , B0 = A0 , A2 = B1 = diag ( , 0, ... , 0), and

b Q1 Q2 ... Q M
P1 A11 0 ... 0

A1 = P2 0 A12 ... 0 . (36)

... ... ... ... ...
PM 0 0 ... A1M
252 Gray, Wang and Scott
Then the balance equations for this model satisfy:
x 0 B0 + x1B1 = 0,
x n 1 A0 + x n A1 + x n +1 A2 = 0, n 1. (37)

Let R = ( B 00 A1 ) 1 , where B 00 is the ( K + 1) ( K + 1) matrix all of whose

rows are E1 ; then x n = x 0 R n for n 1, and the stationary queue length distribution for
this model is given by
[ p (0, 0), x1 , x 2 , ...].
The class probabilities for this model are obtained for this model by considering the
balance Equations (37):

p (C 0 ) = + 1 , and p (C vi ) = vi {( v b )/ rvi } , i = 1, ... , K v , v = 1, ... , M . (38)

A number of useful and interesting models can be obtained from the general model by
various choices of the matrix [qij (v )] . For the remainder of this paper, we will consider
some of these special models.

3. The Hsieh and Andersland Model

In [3], Hsieh and Andersland considered a model that is very closely related to a
special case of the general sequential repair model. In their model there are M types of
breakdowns, and each type has 2 repair stages which they call the minor repair and
the major repair. Their model allows breakdowns during the idle period. They analyzed
their model by working directly with the balance equations. Since the model with
breakdowns only when the server is busy requires a separate analysis, we will analyze it by
the methods of the last section, and in this special case we can obtain more explicit results.
In this analysis, our stage 1 corresponds to their minor repair stage and stage 2 corresponds
to their major repair node.
For this model we will simplify the notation as follows: let q01 (v ) = qv and
q12 (v ) = pv so that q02 (v ) = 1 qv , q10 (v ) = 1 pv , and q20 (v ) = 1. We have then that

v1 = qv , v 2 = 1 qv + pv qv , and 12 (v ) = pv . (39)

From (32), (33), and (39), we obtain the necessary and sufficient condition for the
existence of the stationary queue length distribution, and the formula for the mean queue
length:
= {1 + vM=1 v [qv (b / rv1 ) + (1 qv + qv pv )(b / rv 2 )]} < 1, (40)
and
L = { + vM=1 v [qv ( b / rv21 ) + qv pv [( b )/(rv1rv 2 )] + (1 qv + pv qv )( b / rv22 )]}/(1 ). (41)

The formulas for the idle state and the classes of states are given by:
p(0,0) = 1
and
p (C 0 ) = + 1 , p (C v1 ) = qv (b / rv1 ), and p (C v 2 ) = (1 qv + pv qv )( v b / rv 2 ). (42)
If they are needed, the stationary probabilities for each of the states may be computed
by the matrix-geometric formulas given in the preceding section.
A Queueing Model with Multiple Server Breakdowns 253
In our notation, the probability for the empty state obtained in [4] is
(0, 0) = ( / )(1 ) p (0, 0) and if E (i ) denotes the mean queue length for their model,
then E (i ) L = ( / ) bE (TI2 ) / 2 > 0 , where L is as in (41). The condition (40) for the
queue length distribution to exist is of course the same in both models. See reference [3] by
Hsieh and Andersland for further discussion of this model.

4. The Simple Sequential Repair Model

In the paper [2], Gray, Wang, and Scott studied a queueing model in which there is
only one type of breakdown that requires a finite random number of repair stages ; in all
there are K possible stages of repair. When a breakdown occurs, a stage 1 repair is
performed, and service is restored with probability q1 or a stage 2 repair is required with
probability p1 , q1 + p1 = 1 . In general, if a stage i < K repair is performed, then service is
restored with probability qi or a stage i + 1 repair is required with probability pi ,
qi + pi = 1 . It is assumed that if stage K repair is required, then service will be restored
upon its completion. This is ( , , b ) -sequential repair breakdown model with repair
parameters ( K ,{qij , i , j = 0...K , ri , i = 1... K }) , where the qij are as follows:

q01 = 1, qi ,i +1 = qi , i = 1, ... K 1, qi 0 = p i , i = 1, ... , K 1, q K 0 = 1,

and qij = 0 for all other i , j . (43)
From (43) we see that

1 = 1, i = qi 1 i 1 , i = 2, ... , K , ij = i1 j ,
and i ij = j , i , j = 1, ... , K , j i . (44)

The paper [2] is an extensive study of this model. The results for many of the
distributions are obtained by more intuitive methods, and some results are obtained when
the repair times follow general distributions.
Now if we assume that there are M types of breakdowns, each of which is of the
simple sequential type, then we can get all the results we earlier obtained for the general
model. From (44) and (33), we obtain the somewhat simpler form for the mean queue
length.
L = { + vM=1 v Kj =v1 ij=1 vj [( b )/(rvi rvj )]}/(1 ). (45)

5. The Simple Sequential Test and Repair Model

We now consider a special case of the general sequential repair model where, when a
breakdown occurs, there are K 1 possible test stages , each numbered from 1 to K 1
and K possible repair stages, each numbered from 1 to K . When a breakdown occurs,
test stage 1 is always invoked. Then at test stage i , it is determined whether or not repair
stage i is required. Thus the system proceeds from test stage i to repair stage i with
probability qi , and to test stage i + 1 with probability 1 qi , i = 1, ... , K 2; at test stage
K 1, if repair stage K 1 is not required, a transition to repair stage K occurs with
probability 1 q K 1 . If stage i repair is performed, at its completion, the system
proceeds to test stage i + 1 with probability pi and returns to service with probability
1 pi , i = 1, ... , K 2; at repair stage K 1, a transition to repair stage K occurs with
probability pi . It is assumed that pK = 0, i.e. service is always restored if stage K repair
is performed.
254 Gray, Wang and Scott
We can treat this model as a sequential repair model in which there are 2 K 1 stages
of repair, numbered from 1 to 2 K 1 . Stage 2i 1 corresponds to test stage i and stage
2 i corresponds to repair stage i , i = 1, ... , K 1 ; stage 2 K 1 corresponds to repair
stage K . The matrix [qij ] for this model is given by

q01 = 1, q2i 1,2i = qi , q2i 1,2i +1 = 1 qi , q2i ,2i +1 = pi , q 2i ,0 = 1 pi ,

i = 1, ... , K 1, q2 K 1,0 = 1, and otherwise qij = 0. (46)

From (46) it then follows that

1 = 1, 2i +1 = (1 qi + pi qi ) 2i 1 , 2i = qi 2i 1 , i = 1, ... , K 1, (47)
and
ii = 1, 2i 1, 2 j 1 = 2 j 1 2i11 , 2i 1, 2 j = q j 2 j 1 2i11 = 2 j 2i11 , i < j K 1,
2 K 3, 2 K 1 = 2 K 1 2K1 3 , 2 K 2, 2 K 1 = pK 1 ,
2i ,2 j 1 = pi 2 j 1 2i1+1 , 2i ,2 j = pi 2 j 2i1+1 , i , j = 1, ... , K 1, j > i . (48)

By using (46)-(48), we can now apply the results for the general sequential repair
model to analyze this model. If desired, one can also analyze a model with multiple
breakdown types, each of which is of simple sequential test and repair type.

6. A Numerical Example
As a numerical example, we consider a case where M = 1 . The breakdown rate is
b = 2, each ri = r = 3 , q 0 j = 1/K , j 1, qij = 1/ ( K i + 1), i 1 and j > i , qi 0 = 1/ ( K i + 1),
and qij = 0 otherwise. We set = 1 and = . Figure 1 is a plot of the mean queue
length, L , versus for various values of K . Figure 1 shows a dramatic decrease in the
range of which can be used for the indicated values of K . In Figure 2, we plot the
upper bound, ( sup ) = 1/ ( | = 1) , of the range of values of which can be used for
values of K for K = 1,, 50, and for various values of b /r . We note that when this ratio is
2 , and the value of K = 50, this upper bound has dropped to about 0.16 . This Figure 2
is a good indication of how the choice of b and the ri will affect the model.

Figure 1. Mean queue length versus . Figure 2. ( sup ) versus K , the

number of repair stages.
A Queueing Model with Multiple Server Breakdowns 255

7. Further Comments
The results of this paper make it possible to analyze many queueing models, both
simple and complicated, where sequential repair is required. There is one additional issue
that should be addressed, namely that in the above analysis we have assumed that the
recognition process for breakdown type is instantaneous and perfect. This is of course not
always realistic. However, we could add an additional breakdown type with one
recognition stage which requires an exponentially distributed length of time for testing
for breakdown type. When a breakdown occurs, this stage would always be invoked, and
when this testing process is complete, the system would make a transition to the
appropriate breakdown type. The analysis of the model with this additional feature could
be carried out with slight modifications of the arguments used above.

References
1. Doshi, B. T. (1986). Queueing systems with vacations, a survey. Queueing Systems, 1,
29-66.
2. Gray, W. J., Wang, P. P. and Scott, M.. A queueing model with service breakdowns
and multiple stages of repair. J. Appl. Stat. Science, to appear.
3. Hsieh, Yi-Chih and Andersland, M. S. (1995). Repairable single server systems with
multiple breakdown modes. Microelectronics Reliability, 35, 309-318.
4. Neuts, M. F. (1981). Matrix-Geometric Solutions in Stochastic Models: An algorithmic
Approach. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
5. Takagi, H. (1991). Queueing Analysis: A Foundation of Performance Evaluation, Vol. 1.
NorthHolland, Amsterdam.

Authors Biographies:
William J. Gray is a Senior Professor of the Department of Mathematics, University of
Alabama. He has published numerous papers in the area of topology, and topological
dynamics. His current research interest is the queueing theory.
P. Patrick Wang is a Professor of the Department of Mathematics, University of Alabama.
His research interests are in the areas of stochastic processes and applications including
queueing theory, stochastic modeling and optimization. Recent publications of his have
appeared in Computers & Operations Research, European Journal of Operations Research,
Journal of Applied Probability and Statistical Science.
MecKinley Scott is Professor Emeritus of both the Mathematics Departments of the
University of Alabama, and more recently, Western Illinois University. He has served as
chair of the department at Western Illinois. His entire research career has been devoted to
the study of queueing theory.