We examine multiple independent sources providing status updates to a monitor through simple queues. We formulate an age of information (AoI) timeliness metric and derive a general result for the AoI that is applicable to a wide variety of multiple source service systems. For first-come first-served and two types of last-come first-served systems with Poisson arrivals and exponential service times, we find the region of feasible average status ages for multiple updating sources. We then use these results to characterize how a service facility can be shared among multiple updating sources. A new simplified technique for evaluating the AoI in finite-state continuous-time queuing systems is also derived. Based on stochastic hybrid systems, this method makes AoI evaluation to be comparable in complexity to finding the stationary distribution of a finite-state Markov chain. Index Terms-Age of information, queueing systems, communication networks, stochastic hybrid systems. Manuscript
In REF , the time-average age was characterized for multiple sources Last-Come, First-Serve (LCFS) information-update systems with and without preemption.
The Age of Information: Real-Time Status Updating by Multiple Sources
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
Computer Science Mathematics