Periodic and chaotic dynamics of a switched-server system under corridor policies

We consider a fluid model of a manufacturing system serving three buffers (part-types). The system operates under a feedback control policy called a corridor policy. This policy determines the times to switch between buffers and to which buffers to switch. The machine is assumed to be perfectly flexible, i.e., the switching times between buffers are zero. Open and closed versions of the system are considered. We give two sets of conditions on the parameters of the corridor: one guarantees periodic dynamics and the other chaotic behavior.