Analysis of cross-layer routing protocols for quality of service in real-time wireless ad hoc sensor networks

The real-time interactions among the nodes of a wireless sensor network (WSN) to cooperatively process data from multiple sensors are modeled. Quality-of-service (QoS) metrics are associated with the quality of fused information: throughput, delay, packet error rate, etc. Multivariate point process (MVPP) models of discrete random events in WSNs establish stochastic characteristics of optimal cross-layer protocols. In previous work, discrete-event, cross-layer interactions in mobile ad hoc network (MANET) protocols have been modeled using a set of concatenated design parameters and associated resource levels by the MVPPs. Characterization of the ldquobestrdquo cross-layer designs for a MANET is formulated by applying the general theory of martingale representations to controlled MVPPs. Performance is described in terms of concatenated protocol parameters and controlled through conditional rates of the MVPPs. Assumptions on WSN characteristics simplify the dynamic programming conditions to yield mathematically tractable descriptions for the optimal routing protocols. Modeling limitations to determination of closed-form solutions versus explicit iterative solutions for ad hoc WSN controls are examined.