Application-Level and User-Level QoS Assessment of Audio-Video IP Transmission over Cross-Layer Designed Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

This paper performs application-level QoS and user-level QoS assessment of audio-video streaming in cross-layer designed wireless ad hoc networks. In order to achieve high QoS at the user-level, we employ link quality-based routing in the network layer and media synchronization control in the application layer. We adopt three link quality-based routing protocols: OLSR-SS (Signal Strength), AODV-SS, and LQHR (Link Quality-Based Hybrid Routing). OLSR-SS is a proactive routing protocol, while AODV-SS is a reactive one. LQHR is a hybrid protocol, which is a combination of proactive and reactive routing protocols. For application-level QoS assessment, we performed computer simulation with ns-2 where an IEEE 802.11b mesh topology network with 24 nodes was assumed. We also assessed user-level QoS by a subjective experiment with 30 assessors. From the assessment results, we find AODV-SS the best for networks with long inter-node distances, while LQHR outperforms AODV-SS for short inter-node distances. In addition, we also examine characteristics of the three schemes with respect to the application-level QoS in random topology networks. key words: wireless ad hoc network, audio-video streaming, QoS, cross-layer design, link quality-based routing, media synchronization control