The authors consider a single-server discrete queueing system in which arrivals occur according to a Markovian arrival process. Service is provided in groups of size no more than M customers. The service times are assumed to follow a discrete phase type distribution, whose representation may depend on the group on the group size. Under a probabilistic service rule, which depends on the number of customers waiting in the queue, this system is studied as a Markov process. This type of queueing system is encountered in the operations of an automatic storage retrieval system. The steady-state probability vector is shown to be of (modified) matrix-geometric type. Efficient algorithmic procedures for the computation of the rate matrix, steady-state probability vector, and some important system performance measures are developed. The steady-state waitng time distribution is derived explicitly. Some numerical examples are presented.
