Polling systems: applications, modeling, and optimization

The cyclic polling model, its enhancement by customer routing, and the replacement of a fixed polling order by a random polling order are reviewed. Modeling of polling systems, performance improvement, and system optimization issues are discussed. Examples are given that include token rings, ARQ and time-sharing schemes, random-access protocols, robotics and manufacturing systems. Emphasis is not on the analytical derivations of polling systems but rather on the description of the capabilities and limitations of the different polling models.>