QoS support in TDMA-based mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are gaining a lot of attention in research lately due to their importance in enabling mobile wireless nodes to communicate without any existing wired or predetermined infrastructures. Furthermore, in order to support the growing need for multimedia and realtime applications, quality of service (QoS) support by the networking protocol is required. Several important QoS parameters that are needed by such applications can be identified. They include bandwidth, end-to-end delay, delay jitter, and bit error rate. A good amount of research has been developed in this area covering different issues and challenges such as developing routing protocols that support bandwidth reservation and delay management. In this paper, the current state of research for QoS support in TDMA-based MANETs at different layers of the networking model is presented and categorized. In addition, the current issues and future challenges involved in this exciting area of research are also included.