On the Average Age-of-Information for Hybrid Multiple Access Protocols

We consider age of information of data transmitted over a single-hop wireless network using a hybrid multiple access (MAC) protocol. We characterize the average age of information (AAoI) for this hybrid MAC using analytical upper and lower bounds as well as an approximation for symmetric and asymmetric scenarios. Simulations show that the upper and lower bounds and the approximation provide a good characterization of the AAoI. We compare the AAoI performance of hybrid MACs with EZMAC and a centralized policy. We observe that the hybrid MAC performance is close to that of the centralized policy in the symmetric case.