Cross-layer analysis of protocol delay in mobile devices receiving BCMCS

Abstract

Broadcast and multicast services allow the high-speed delivery of multimedia content to multiple subscribers over CDMA2000 wireless networks. This relies on a high-rate broadcast packet data system with an air interface governed by two interacting protocols: the medium access control (MAC) protocol specifies the methods of multiplexing and of forward error correction used to reduce the radio link error-rate seen by the higher layers; and the security protocol specifies the procedures used to encrypt and decrypt content, following the Advanced Encryption Standard. We investigated the mutual effect of these protocols, in the context of an ARM9-based mobile platform, and their influence on delay. This allowed us to propose a novel analytic model that can predict the total delay by summing the separate but related delays incurred by implementations of the MAC and security protocols with particular parameters. This cross-layer model includes the characteristics of error control in the MAC layer and the varying condition of the fading channel in the physical layer. We can use this model to estimate the size of data buffers that mobiles require to provide a seamless multimedia service.