Modeling and analysis of a single-buffer polling system interconnected with external networks

In an interconnected communication system, there is inbound traffic from external networks. This paper considers the influence of the inbound traffic on the performance of internal stations. The authors propose an analytical model of a single-buffer polling system having traffic from outside the system. The system consists of internal stations with single-message buffers and a depot station with a buffer of an infinite capacity where inbound traffic is dealt with. Service discipline at a depot station is assumed to be exhaustive. On the other hand, each message at internal stations is divided into several packets and at most k packets can be transmitted when polled. The authors provide an exact analysis of the model, from which the average performance measures can be numerically obtained.