Minimum Age of Information TDMA Scheduling: Approximation Algorithms and Hardness Results

We consider a transmission scheduling problem in which multiple agents receive update information through a shared Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) channel. To provide timely delivery of update information, the problem asks for a schedule that minimizes the overall Age of Information (AoI). We call this problem the Min-AoI problem. Several special cases of the problem are known to be solvable in polynomial time. Our contribution is threefold. First, we introduce a new job scheduling problem called the Min-WCS problem, and we prove that, for any constant r ≥ 1, every r-approximation algorithm for the Min-WCS problem can be transformed into an r-approximation algorithm for the Min-AoI problem. Second, we give a randomized 2.619-approximation algorithm, a randomized 3-approximation algorithm, which outperforms the previous one in certain scenarios, and a dynamic-programming-based exact algorithm for the Min-WCS problem. Finally, we prove that the Min-AoI problem is NP-hard.