As an example of cross-layer design, at the physical layer adaptive modulation and coding can be designed considering the radio link level error control technique (e.g., ARQ) to maximize network capacity under constrained QoS requirements. Also, a cross- layer design for radio link level scheduler can be achieved by adapting it to the transport level delay and bandwidth requirements of real time and non-real time applications. Application layer adaptation techniques based on cross-layer design can be developed for wireless multimedia services which exploit the physical and radio link layer information. Research on cross-layer design and engineering is interdisciplinary in nature and it involves several research areas such as adaptive coding and modulation, channel modeling, traffic modeling, queuing theory network protocol design and optimization techniques.

The emphasis of this special issue will be on cross-layer protocol interactions and design of cross-layer optimized techniques, investigation of joint simulation methodologies, potential upgrade of the protocol stacks for multimedia, and resource management and routing protocols for mobile wireless networks, e.g., cellular/WLAN/ad hoc.

Scope of Contributions: The papers in this feature topic will focus on state-of -the-art research in various aspects of cross-layer protocol design and engineering for the next generation wireless mobile communication networks. We solicit papers covering various topics of interest that include, but not limited to the following:

• Architectures and methodologies for cross-layer protocol design in wireless networks
• Exploiting physical layer information for medium access control (MAC)/ radio link control (RLC) protocol design
• Interactions among PHY/MAC/RLC and transport layer protocol (e.g., TCP/UDP)
• Interactions between routing/mobility management and congestion control
• Cross-layer design of MAC, RLC, and routing protocols in wireless ad hoc networks
• Cross-layer adaptation for energy minimization in wireless networks
• Cross-layer strategies for wireless multimedia
• Application layer adaptation based on cross-layer notifications
• Cross-layer strategies and end-to-end quality of service
• Cross-layer strategies in wireless sensor and actuator networks
• Simulation tools for cross-layer analysis and design
• Complexity and scalability issues in cross-layer design
• Signaling for cross-layer protocol interaction
• Design, implementation and test-bed results
• Overview of the special projects underway and planned
• Standardization status reports from various standards organizations and fora

http://www.comsoc.org/pubs/commag/sub_guidelines.html

Manuscripts should be submitted through Manuscript Central at http://commag-ieee.manuscriptcentral.com by June 01, 2005. Please select "January 2006/Cross-Layer Protocol Engineering fors Wireless Mobile Networks" in the drop down menu.

Schedule of Submissions

Manuscript Submission: June 01, 2005
Notification of acceptance: September 01, 2005
Final Manuscript Due: October 15, 2005
Publication: January 2006

Guest Editors

Sastri Kota Senior Scientist Harris Corporation 1134 East Arques Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA Tel.: +1-408-990-8301 Mobile: +1-408-204-7938 Fax: +1-408-990-8399 Email: skota@harris.com	Romano Fantacci Dipartimento di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni Università di Firenze Via S. Marta 3, 50139, Firenze, Italy Tel: +39-(0)-55-4796270 Fax: +39-(0)-55-4796485 E-mail: fantacci@lenst.det.unifi.it
Ekram Hossain Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3T 5V6 Tel.: +1-204-474-8908 Fax: +1-204-261-4639 Email: ekram@ee.umanitoba.ca	Ahmed Karmouch School of Information Technology & Engineering University of Ottawa 161, Louis Pasteur Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada Email: Karmouch@site.uottawa.ca Tel. +1(613) 562-5800 x6203 Fax: +1 (613) 562-5175