A Cross-Layer Quality-Oriented Scheme for Energy-Efficient Multimedia Delivery in Wireless Networks

Limited battery life has become a critical issue, particularly when mobile devices run multimedia applications, for which users have high quality expectations. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer quality-oriented energy-efficient multimedia delivery scheme (Q-PASTE), which balances the need for the following: increased energy efficiency/battery lifetime and high user quality of experience. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, the Packet/ApplicaTion manager (PAT) is employed as a novel traffic shaping scheme at the application layer of both the gateway and the client host. At the service gateway, PAT first utilizes a fast start approach to support smooth multimedia playback and then shapes traffic from the server into bursts to reduce the wireless transceivers duty cycle for energy efficiency. At the client side, PAT performs traffic monitoring and provides the medium access control (MAC) layer with session-specific traffic-related information. Second, a MAC-located Slow sTart Exponential and Linear Algorithm (STELA) is proposed, which adjusts the sleep/wakeup schedule of the wireless network interface card (WNIC) to increase energy efficiency. An additional parameter-tuning procedure working with the information provided by PAT ensures that data arrive at the client without serious delays. It is demonstrated both analytically and via simulations that the proposed scheme improves energy efficiency significantly, in comparison with other solutions, while maintaining high quality levels.