SignalBase defines the following methods/
const bool &getReady() const { return ready; }
virtual bool needUpdate(const Time &) const { return ready; }
inline void setReady(const bool sready = true) { ready = sready; }
It is very misleading that signal.getReady() == signal.needUpdate(). From the code, it seems this is only use in SignalTimeDependent and attribute ready is true when the signal is NOT up to date