Superposition of periodic streams - interval of significance

Superposition of periodic streams results in a non-ergodic process. Therefore, calculating the associated delay distribution in a non-ergodic system requires ensemble averaging techniques. Time averaging techniques does not give the true representation of the delay experienced in such systems. This paper presents a concept of interval of significance (IoS) to provide a finite interval that is required in ensemble averaging techniques. Having such finite interval allows one to obtain the exact delay distribution through simulation, which is particularly important for the case of heterogeneous sources where a closed form equation for the delay distribution is not available. Furthermore, the concept of IoS lays a foundation for further works on the study of mean time to failure and possibly the derivation of closed form equation for the case of heterogeneous sources.