Optimizing age of information without knowing the age of information
ECE 595 seminar series
February 13, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Optimizing Age of Information without Knowing the Age of Information
Presenter: Igor Kadota, Northwestern University
Abstract: Ensuring timely information delivery is essential for modern networked systems ranging from smart factories to autonomous vehicles. The Age of Information (AoI) has emerged as a key metric for quantifying information freshness, but most AoI‑aware scheduling algorithms rely on real‑time knowledge of source or destination timestamps. This assumption breaks down in practical systems with unreliable links, delayed feedback, or limited cross‑layer visibility.
This talk presents a framework for optimizing information freshness without knowing the actual AoI, focusing on networks where sources generate packets according to general renewal processes and where the base station (BS) observes only transmission outcomes. We develop low‑complexity MMSE estimators that infer both system time and AoI using only the BS’s observable history. Leveraging these estimators, we propose a Max‑Weight scheduling policy that operates without AoI knowledge, yet provably outperforms other well-known policies, including the Optimal Randomized Policy, in both theory and simulations.
Overall, the results highlight that freshness optimization is possible even when timestamps are unavailable, offering a path toward deployable AoI‑aware scheduling in real systems.
Speaker bio: Igor Kadota is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University. He received the PhD degree from MIT LIDS and his BS degree from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) in Brazil. His research is on modeling, analysis, optimization, and implementation of next-generation communication networks, with the emphasis on advanced wireless systems and time-sensitive applications.
He was a recipient of several research, teaching, and mentoring awards, including the Best Paper Award at IEEE INFOCOM 2018, the Best Paper Award finalist at ACM MobiHoc 2019, the Best Student Paper Award at WiOpt 2024 and WiOpt 2025, and the MIT School of Engineering Graduate Student Extraordinary Teaching and Mentoring Award of 2020. For additional information, please see: http://www.igorkadota.com
Faculty host: Pai-Yen Chen, pychen@uic.edu
Date posted
Feb 10, 2026
Date updated
Mar 6, 2026