An Introduction to Classical Cyclic Polling Model

An alternative analysis of the classical M/G/1 cyclic order polling model is presented. We introduce the new Markov regenerative process framework, which provides a way to perform the analysis of the polling model on a unified, i.e. service discipline independent way. We derive the decomposition property and the general expressions of the stationary number of customers as well as the stationary waiting time. We show a unified way to reduce the analysis for finding the stationary number of customers at the polling epochs and demonstrate it on several known service disciplines. The tutorial character of the approach makes it appropriate to be used for an introduction.