Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
1. Introduction. A Markov Renewal Process (MRP) with m(<∞) states is one which records at each time t, the number of times a system visits each of the m states up to time t, if the system moves from state to state according to a Markov chain with transition probability matrix P0 = [pij] and if the time required for each successive move is a random variable whose distribution function (d.f.) depends on the two states between which the move is made. Thus, if the system moves from state i to state j, the holding time in the state i has Fij(x) as its d.f. (i, j = 1,2, …, m).