Due to the great success and enormous impact of IP networks, In ternet access (such as sending and receiving e-mails) and web brows ing have become the ruling paradigm for next generation wireless systems. On the other hand, great technological and commercial success of services and applications is being witnessed in mobile wire less communications with examples of cellular, pes voice telephony and wireless LANs. The service paradigm has thus shifted from the conventional voice service to seamlessly integrated high quality mul timedia transmission over broadband wireless mobile networks. The multimedia content may include data, voice, audio, image, video and so on. With availability of more powerful portable devices, such as PDA, portable computer and cellular phone, coupled with the easier access to the core network (using a mobile device), the number of mobile users and the demand for multimedia-based applications is increasing rapidly. As a result, there is an urgent need for a sys tem that supports heterogeneous multimedia services and provides seamless access to the desired resources via wireless connections. Therefore, the convergence of multimedia communication and wireless mobile networking technologies into the next generation wireless multimedia (WMM) networks with the vision of "anytime, anywhere, anyform" information system is the certain trend in the foreseeable future. However, successful combination of these two technologies presents many challenges such as available spectral bandwidth, energy efficiency, seamless end-to-end communication, robustness, security, etc.

This brief offers a valuable resource on principles of quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning and the related link-layer resource management techniques for high data-rate wireless networks. The primary emphasis is on protocol modeling and analysis. It introduces media access control (MAC) protocols, standards of wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), and wireless body area networks (WBANs), discussing their key technologies, applications, and deployment scenarios. The main analytical approaches and models for performance analysis of the fundamental resource scheduling mechanisms, including the contention-based, reservation-based, and hybrid MAC, are presented. To help readers understand and evaluate system performance, the brief contains a range of simulation results. In addition, a thorough bibliography provides an additional tool. This brief is an essential resource for engineers, researchers, students, and users of wireless networks.

Following the pattern of the Internet growth in popularity, started in the early 1990s, the current unprecedented expansion of wireless technology promises to have an even greater effect on how people communicate and interact, with considerable socio-economic impact all over the world. The driving force behind this growth is the remarkable progress in component miniaturization, integration, and also devel- ments in waveforms, coding, and communication protocols. Besides established infrastructurebased wireless networks (cellular, WLAN, sat- lite) ad-hoc wireless networks emerge as a new platform for distributed applications and for personal communication in scenarios where deploying infrastructure is not feasible. In ad-hoc wireless networks, each node is capable of forwarding packets on behalf of other nodes, so that multi-hop paths provide end-to-end connectivity. The increased flexibility and mobility of ad-hoc wireless networks are favored for appli- tions in law enforcement, homeland defense and military. In a world where wireless networks become increasingly interoperable with each other and with the high-speed wired Internet, personal communication systems will transform into universal terminals with instant access to variate content and able of handle demanding tasks, such as multimedia and real-time video. With users roaming between networks, and with wide variation in wireless link quality even in a single domain, the communications terminal must continue to provide a level of Quality of Service that is acceptable to the user and conforms to a contracted Service Level Agreement.

Wireless mesh networking has emerged as a promising technology for future broadband wireless access, providing a viable and economical solution for both peer-to-peer applications and Internet access. The success of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is highly contingent on effective radio resource management. In conventional wireless networks, system throughput is usually a common performance metric. However, next-generation broadband wireless access networks including WMNs are anticipated to support multimedia traffic (e.g., voice, video, and data traffic). With heterogeneous traffic, quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning and fairness support are also imperative. Recently, wireless mesh networking for suburban/rural residential areas has been attracting a plethora of attentions from industry and academia. With austere suburban and rural networking environments, multi-hop communications with decentralized resource allocation are preferred. In WMNs without powerful centralized control, simple yet effective resource allocation approaches are desired for the sake of system performance melioration. In this dissertation, we conduct a comprehensive research study on the topic of radio resource management for WMNs supporting multimedia traffic. In specific, this dissertation is intended to shed light on how to effectively and efficiently manage a WMN for suburban/rural residential areas, provide users with high-speed wireless access, support the QoS of multimedia applications, and improve spectrum utilization by means of novel radio resource allocation. As such, five important resource allocation problems for WMNs are addressed, and our research accomplishments are briefly outlined as follows: Firstly, we propose a novel node clustering algorithm with effective subcarrier allocation for WMNs. The proposed node clustering algorithm is QoS-aware, and the subcarrier allocation is optimality-driven and can be performed in a decentralized manner. Simulation results show that, compared to a conventional conflict-graph approach, our proposed approach effectively fosters frequency reuse, thereby improving system performance; Secondly, we propose three approaches for joint power-frequency-time resource allocation. Simulation results show that all of the proposed approaches are effective in provisioning packet-level QoS over their conventional resource allocation counterparts. Our proposed approaches are of low complexity, leading to preferred candidates for practical implementation; Thirdly, to further enhance system performance, we propose two low-complexity node cooperative resource allocation approaches for WMNs with partner selection/allocation. Simulation results show that, with beneficial node cooperation, both proposed approaches are promising in supporting QoS and elevating system throughput over their non-cooperative counterparts; Fourthly, to further utilize the temporarily available radio spectrum, we propose a simple channel sensing order for unlicensed secondary users. By sensing the channels according to the descending order of their achievable rates, we prove that a secondary user should stop at the first sensed free channel for the sake of optimality; and Lastly, we derive a unified optimization framework to effectively attain different degrees of performance tradeoff between throughput and fairness with QoS support. By introducing a bargaining floor, the optimal tradeoff curve between system throughput and fairness can be obtained by solving the proposed optimization problem iteratively.

The key feature of future mobile communication systems is the ability to deliver wideband and high bit-rate multimedia services alongside the traditional radio services such as voice, messaging and slow rate data. The broad range of services expected to be supported can be divided into different Quality of Service (QoS) classes. However, the provision of such mobile multimedia services under QoS guarantees will not be possible without a utilization of the air interface resources by means of Radio Resource Management (RRM) strategies that ensure the target QoS, the planned coverage area and that offer a high system capacity. Under this framework, the book focuses on the RRM concepts, including the theoretical background that serves as a basis for the description of specific RRM algorithms. The RRM problem for UMTS is presented, and more specifically, for the FDD mode, which is based on a WCDMA scheme. More specifically, the different aspects that are covered include: Introduces the mobile communications sector and UMTS, including the evolution towards 4G systems, with an overview of the QoS concept which is key for the definition of RRM strategies Offers a detailed description of the radio interface in UMTS, as the basis for the implementation of RRM strategies Provides the fundamental concepts related with the development of RRM strategies in WCDMA networks Analyses particular RRM algorithms in a variety of scenarios, trying to identify the key parameters and factors that influence their performance Explores the evolution of UMTS towards Beyond 3G systems and the concept of Common RRM in heterogeneous networks with the aid of some algorithm examples This comprehensive title is essential reading for engineers and managers in radio engineering departments of UMTS network operators and UMTS equipment manufacturers. It will also prove insightful to researchers in the field of 3G and Beyond 3G systems and academics in any of these areas.

This book provides significant knowledge on innovative radio resource management schemes for satellite communication systems that exploit lower layer adaptivity and the knowledge of layer 3 IP QoS support and transport layer behavior. The book integrates competencies considering all the parts of system design: propagation aspects, radio resource management, access protocols, network protocols, transport layer protocols, and more, to cover both broadband and mobile satellite systems.

The current book provides a final report of activity performed by the COST 290 Action, ‘‘Traffic and QoS Management in Wireless Multimedia Networks,’’ which ran from March 10, 2004, until June 3, 2008. After an introduction to the COST framework and the Action’s survey time-frame and activities, the main part of the book addresses a number of technical issues, which are structured into several chapters. All those issues have been carefully investigated by the COST 290 community during the course of the project – the information presented in this book can be regarded as ultimate for each particular topic; every open research issue addressed in the book is described carefully, corresponding existing studies are analyzed and results achieved by the COST 290 community are presented and compared, and further research directions are defined and analyzed. Because the book covers a wide area of research addressing issues of modern wired and wireless networking at different layers, starting from the physical layer up to the application layer, it can be recommended to be used by researchers and students to obtain a comprehensive analysis on particular research topics including related areas, to obtain broad and ultimate referencing, and to be advised on current open issues. COST 290 is one of the Actions of the European COST Program. Founded in 1971, COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, allowing the coordination of nationally funded research on a European level.