QoS Support in the Cognitive Radio Networks

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. As a direct evolution from WMNs, the Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN) are similar to the WMNs in many ways. Correspondingly, CRNs are also expected to support delay sensitive and/or high bandwidth real-time streaming multimedia applications like live video streaming, VoIP (Voice-over-IP), video conferencing, online gaming, and so on. However, Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning in CRNs is very challenging due to various issues. In this chapter, issues that take place on different network layers, chiefly the physical, MAC (Medium Access Control), and network layer are examined. This chapter also studies and reviews existing proposals to tackle the challenging issue of QoS provisioning in CRNs. Based on these reviews, gaps are identified in existing proposals and some possible solutions are suggested. In the second part of the chapter, the authors look into how greater QoS provisioning capabilities are provided by two proposed routing protocols for CRNs utilizing a variety of techniques. A conclusion is provided at the last part of the chapter together with possible future research directions.