A cross-layer design for QoS support in cognitive radio sensor networks for smart grid applications

In this paper, we propose a cross-layer design to meet the QoS requirements for smart grids employing the cognitive radio sensor networks for their control and monitoring operations. Existing routing protocols pertaining to QoS support are not able to simultaneously handle traffic of different characteristics present in smart grids. Therefore, considering the traffic heterogeneity of smart grid applications exhibiting diverse QoS requirements, a set of priority classes is defined in order to differentiate the traffic for the respective service. Specifically, the problem is formulated as a weighted network utility maximization (WNUM) whose objective is to maximize the weighted sum of flows service. A cross-layer heuristic solution is provided to solve the utility optimization problem by performing joint routing, dynamic spectrum allocation and medium access. Performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated using ns-2, which shows that the number of flows belonging to each class are served according to their weight fraction with their respective data rate, latency and reliability requirement.