Cross-layer design: a survey and the road ahead

Of late, there has been an avalanche of cross-layer design proposals for wireless networks. A number of researchers have looked at specific aspects of network performance and, approaching cross-layer design via their interpretation of what it implies, have presented several cross-layer design proposals. These proposals involve different layers of the protocol stack, and address both cellular and ad hoc networks. There has also been work relating to the implementation of cross-layer interactions. It is high time that these various individual efforts be put into perspective and a more holistic view be taken. In this article, we take a step in that direction by presenting a survey of the literature in the area of…