On the single server retrial queue subject to breakdowns

This paper deals with a single server retrial queueing system subject to active and independent breakdowns. The objective is to extend the results given independently by Aissani [1] and Kulkarni and Choi [15]. To this end, we introduce the concept of fundamental server period and an auxiliary queueing system with breakdowns and option for leaving the system. Then, we concentrate our attention on the limiting distribution of the system state. We obtain simplified expressions for the partial generating functions of the server state and the number of customers in the retrial group, a recursive scheme for computing the limiting probabilities and closed-form formulae for the second order partial moments. Some stochastic decomposition results are also investigated. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.