Analysis of a discrete time table polling system with MAP input and time-limited service discipline

An iterative procedure based on the MAP/PH/1 and MAP/PH/1/K queues with vac ation is presented for approximating the performance measures of a table po lling system. Each queue has a time limit after which it relinquishes the s erver. This is formally known as the token holding time (THT) in IEEE 802.5 and IEEE 802.4 standards. The polling table can be tailored such that queu es with limits on the cycle time are visited more frequently, thus, limitin g the delays for real time applications. The visit period and vacation peri od distributions were obtained based on the properties of the discrete phas e distribution. Several examples are presented and they show that the algor ithm converges fairly fast and gives reasonable results.