MobileMAN: Design, Integration, and Experimentation of Cross-Layer Mobile Multihop Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract
In the previous article [1], via experimental studies, we have analyzed the performance of a TCP/IP layered architecture in multihop ad hoc networks. The experimental results point out that a legacy protocol stack does not operate efficiently in ad hoc networks, and cross layering is a promising approach to improve the performance. Cross layering opens a second phase in the ad hoc network design. In this article we present the cross-layer architecture and related protocols, developed in the MobileMAN project. By implementing a full prototype of this architecture, we show that it significantly outperforms a legacy TCP/IP layered architecture.

A idéia do artigo é introduzir uma camada vertical (NeSt - Network Status) que server como um respositório de informação. Cada camada programa uma interface do modelo convencional de camadas e uma interface com a NeSt, assim mantem-se a modularidade das camadas e é possível usar informação cross-layer. Protocolos que não usam a NeSt funcionam da maneira convencional.

Trechos interessantes

• The basic idea behind this technique is to make information produced/collected by a protocol available to the whole protocol stack, so as to enable optimizations and improve network performance.
• At one end, solutions based on layer triggers implement interdependencies between protocols maintaining compatibility with strict layering. In this case the information exchange is limited to adjacent protocols. A full cross-layer design represents the other extreme; it introduces stackwide layers’ interdependencies that enable the optimization of each protocol’s performance by exploiting the full knowledge of the network status collected at different layers of the protocol stack.