Cross-Layer Design for Integrated Mobile Multimedia Networks with Strict Priority Traffic

In mobile multimedia networks, different traffic classes require various levels of quality of service (QoS). In this paper, we propose a cross-layer design to provide diverse QoS provisions for integrated realtime/non-realtime traffic by jointly taking into account the physical layer, data link layer, and application layer. Specifically, at the physical layer, adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) is employed to cope with the time-varying nature of fading channels whereas impairments due to queuing effects are considered at the data link layer. At the application layer, realtime and non-realtime traffic are classified into high and low priority classes, respectively, with strict priority levels. The cross-layer scheme is characterized as a discrete Markov modulated Poisson process. Solving the steady state probability of this Markov model readily enables us to investigate several important performance metrics such as packet drop rate due to buffer overflow and packet error rate due to transmission errors and network impairments. Our proposed cross-layer design is verified by comparing the analytical results with Monte-Carlo simulations. Furthermore, it has been shown that the proposed cross-layer design can flexibly guarantee QoS requirements for each traffic class.