This paper introduces a new cross-layer design metric called Application-Constrained MAC-Aware Capacity (ACMAC). ACMAC considers outage capacity, MAC layer and application layer Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements to derive the lower and upper bounds of the transmission rate. Theoretical derivation of this metric demonstrates the importance of considering different layers of the network. Further, we show how to use ACMAC as a cross layer optimization criterion to generate frameworks for selecting different parameters such as transmit rate, channel or route selection in wireless networks. Our simulation results show that ACMAC is very accurate in predicting network performance such as throughput while satisfying QoS parameters like Packet Error rate (PER). © 2014 IEEE.

This paper introduces a new channel selection metric and its implementation for wireless networks. It is demonstrated that channel utilization and channel quality are two essential performance factors for wireless networks. Then, we define Non-Utilized Outage Capacity (NUOC) as a cross-layer channel metric which provides an intelligent adaptivity between these two performance factors. We also determine steps required for implementation of this new channel selection metric which includes measurement, decision and execution. The proposed mechanism in this paper is easy to implement in IEEE 802.11 standard which makes it very desirable and practical for these networks. Our simulation results show that our new scheme provides better performance compared to other well-known schemes. © 2013 IEEE.