Assessing the Viability of Cross-Layer Modeling for Asynchronous, Multi-hop, Ad-hoc Wireless Mesh Networks

Recent research on wireless network design has advocated the use of cross-layer modeling as a basis for optimizing network performance. However, it is not clear if cross-layer modeling is even viable in the presence of certain network characteristics, which raises questions about the real-world applicability of such optimization techniques. This paper attempts to assess the viability of cross-layer modeling for wireless mesh networks having three (commonly found) characteristics - asynchronous transmission, multi-hop communication, and ad-hoc connectivity. Our analytical study reveals that such modeling techniques have to solve an equation with higher order than a quintic equation in the case of a moderate queue size at each mesh node. As a result, our study uncovers a key finding that comprehensive cross-layer modeling for asynchronous, multi-hop, ad-hoc wireless mesh networks is simply not viable. Consequently, we point out a possible simplification of the model pertinent for non-congested wireless mesh networks and also perform an approximation analysis based on the simplification.