摘要
It is assumed that information in a traditional multi-state information network (MIN) can be sent anywhere. However, in practical applications, the intensity of information (the capacity of information to be transmitted) is gradually reduced because of the deterioration effect. For example, a Wi-Fi signal decreases if the transmission distance is too great. Hence, a novel MIN model called the deterioration-effect acyclic MIN (AMIN de ) is proposed to meet real-world problems in which the intensity of information decreases by a given amount and transmits to a limited number of nodes. In addition, to counteractsome of the deterioration effect, a novel boost node is introduced toincreaseinformation temporarily. A very straightforward and easily programmed algorithm derived from the universal generating function method (UGFM) is used to evaluate the AMIN de reliability, which is defined as the probability that information can be received by the target node through the AMIN de . The computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is also analyzed. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate how the reliability of the AMIN de is calculated using the proposed algorithm.