Cross-Layer Quality of Service Support for UWB Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) are networks of wirelessly interconnected devices that allow retrieving video and audio streams, still images, and scalar sensor data. WMSN require the sensor network paradigm to be rethought in view of the need for mechanisms to deliver multimedia content with a pre-defined level of quality of service (QoS). In this paper, a new cross-layer communication architecture based on the time-hopping impulse radio ultra wide band technology is described, designed to reliably and flexibly deliver QoS to heterogeneous applications in WMSNs, by leveraging and controlling interactions among different layers of the protocol stack according to applications requirements. Simulations show that the proposed system achieves the performance objectives of WMSNs without sacrificing on design modularity.