Cross-layer design optimizations in wireless protocol stacks

The performance of applications on mobile devices is affected by the device constraints of memory, processing power, battery life and the variations in the wireless network. The variations in the wireless network will be compounded in the next generation networks-3G and beyond-when the devices move across heterogeneous networks. To allow interoperability with the Internet, existing standard protocol stacks would be deployed in the new networks and mobile devices. However, these protocol stacks which are architected and implemented in a layered manner do not function efficiently in mobile wireless environments. Cross-layer feedback in the protocol stack would be useful to improve the efficiency of these protocol stacks. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of cross-layer feedback on the mobile device and present a representative survey. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.