Cross-Layer Interaction in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks: A Practical Example

This paper presents the design and the performance evaluation of a joined process between the PHY (PHYsical) layer and routing layer in multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks. This cross-layer interaction between the PHY and routing layers allows each node in an ad hoc network to evaluate the performance of each path in its routing table in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) and to classify each path accordingly. Routing information from poor quality links are not forwarded leading to the selection of high quality links during the routing process. An implementation of our cross-layer algorithm based on Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) is presented along with simulation results showing significant improvements in terms of additional throughput and lower BER. Furthermore, inherent of our mechanism’s design, the network overhead introduced by routing protocols is reduced..