Age-Optimal Multi-Flow Status Updating with Errors: A Sample-Path Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a sample-path approach to optimize age of information in multi-flow, multi-server systems with errors, demonstrating near-optimal scheduling policies for synchronized packet arrivals.

Contribution

It develops a unifying sample-path methodology and proposes four scheduling policies that are near optimal under specific synchronization conditions.

Findings

Proposed policies are near optimal for synchronized flows.

The sample-path approach unifies analysis across different system configurations.

Policies minimize age-related penalties in stochastic ordering sense.

Abstract

In this paper, we study an age of information minimization problem in continuous-time and discrete-time status updating systems that involve multiple packet flows, multiple servers, and transmission errors. Four scheduling policies are proposed. We develop a unifying sample-path approach and use it to show that, when the packet generation and arrival times are synchronized across the flows, the proposed policies are (near) optimal for minimizing any time-dependent, symmetric, and non-decreasing penalty function of the ages of the flows over time in a stochastic ordering sense.