Particle Swarm Optimization to the Retrial Machine Repair Problem with Working Breakdowns under the N Policy

Abstract

This paper analyzes a retrial machine repair problem with working breakdowns operating under the N policy. The server is subject to working breakdowns only when there is at least one failed machine in the system. A matrix-analytic method is employed to derive the steady-state probabilities of the number of failed machines in the system which is used to evaluate several system performance measures. We construct a profit model to determine the optimum number of warm standbys S, and the joint optimal values for fast service and slow service rates, simultaneously by using Canonical particle swarm optimization (CPSO) algorithm. Moreover, we carry out the sensitivity analysis with numerical illustration based on various system parameter values.