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9
cross-LAyer
desIgn Issues
9.1 Introduction
As wireless communications and networking fast occupy center
stage in research and development activity in the area of com-
munication networks, the suitability of one of the foundations of
networking—the layered protocol architecture—is coming under
close scrutiny from the research community. It is repeatedly argued
that although layered architectures have served well for wired net-
works, they are not suitable for wireless networks. To illustrate
this point, researchers usually present what they call a cross-layer
design proposal.
Due to lack of coordination among the layers, the performance of
layered architecture posed peculiar challenges in the area of ad hoc
wireless networks. To overcome the ...