Enhancing transport of media using MAC layer based approach

Wireless networks are widely used in the real world. Innovations in technologies and electronics made wireless devices to become more possessive of resources. Resource hungriness is reducing. The result is in the form of wireless networks that can participate in multimedia applications. Such applications are bandwidth intensive and delay sensitive. Therefore they need to be handled with ideal strategies. As smart phones and other hand held devices became ubiquitous, technology driven digital world makes use of such devices for multi-media transmission. Stated differently, wireless networks are also participating in multimedia streaming applications. However, there are some issues such as Quality of Service (QoS) while dealing with delay-sensitive data. The adaptation strategies found in OSI model are confined to specific layers. With respect to multimedia streaming applications, it is essential to have an approach that can exploit power resource, spectrum utilization and quality probabilities. Though these capabilities are bestowed with different layers of OSI model, it is important to comprehend the features of those layers with a holistic and comprehensive approach. Of late, Cross Layered Design (CLD) approach has been studied with significant progress towards optimizing multimedia data transmission. In this paper, our cross layer design approach is partially fulfilled, focusing on MAC layer enhancements. We implemented the proposed approach using NS2 simulations. The results revealed that the proposed MAC layer optimization improves performance of multimedia streaming in wireless networks.