No description available.

Les prévisions relatives trafic de données au sein des systèmes de communications sans-fil suggèrent une croissance exponentielle, principalement alimentée par l’essor de transferts vidéo mobiles. Etant donné la nature soudaine et fluctuante des demandes de transfert vidéo, il faut dès à présent réfléchir à de nouveaux algorithmes d’allocation de ressources performants. En effet, les algorithmes en couche physique traditionnels, qui réalisent de l’allocation de ressources sous l’hypothèse classique que les transmetteurs sont toujours saturés avec des bits d’information, risquent à l’avenir de s’avérer inefficients. Pour cette raison, les algorithmes de demain se doivent d’être dynamiques, dans le sens où ils seront capables de prendre en compte la nature stochastique des fluctuations du trafic de données et qu’ils intégreront des informations issus de processus de couches supérieures.L’idée centrale de cette thèse est de développer des algorithmes, travaillant avec des informations issues de la couche PHY et de la couche NET, dans un scénario Multi-cells et MIMO (Multiple Inputs, Multiple Outputs).Plus particulièrement, nous considérons un réseau de stations de base (BS) équipés avec plusieurs antennes, chargés de servir plusieurs terminaux mobiles équipés d’une seule antenne (UT) dans leurs cellules respectives. Ce qui nous différencie des travaux précédents, c’est que nous tenons compte de l’aléa avec lequel des demandes de transferts peuvent arriver et que, pour cette raison, nous modélisons la formation de queue de données au niveau des stations de base. Dans cette disposition, nous développons plusieurs algorithmes multicouches, réalisant de l’allocation de ressources décentralisée, et ce, dans une optique d’efficacité énergétique. En particulier, il s’agit ici de réaliser des algorithmes réalisant du beamforming de façon décentralisée et capables de contrôler des fluctuations de trafic, des algorithmes optimisant l’efficacité énergétique sous une contrainte de qualité de service moyenne, des algorithmes de planification décentralisés dans des scénarios multi-cellulaires. Dans cette perspective, nous choisissons de recourir non seulement à des outils d’optimisation de la théorie de Lyapunov, mais également à la théorie des matrices aléatoires et à la théorie du contrôle stochastique. / Future wireless communication systems are expected to see an explosion in the wireless traffic which is mainly fueled by mobile video traffic. Due to the time varying and bursty nature of video traffic, wireless systems will see a widerrange of fluctuations in their traffic patterns. Therefore, traditional physical layer based algorithms which perform resource allocation under the assumption that the transmitters are always saturated with information bits, might no longer be efficient. It is, thus, important to design dynamic resource allocation algorithms which can incorporate higher layer processes and account for the stochastic nature of the wireless traffic.The central idea of this thesis is to develop cross-layer design algorithmsbetween the physical and the network layer in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) multi-cell setup. Specifically, we consider base stations (BSs) equipped with multiple antennas serving multiple single antenna user terminals (UTs) in their respective cells. In contrast to the previous works, we consider the randomness in the arrival of information bits and hence account for the queuing at the BSs. With this setup, we develop various cross-layer based resource allocation algorithms. We incorporate two important design considerations namely decentralized design and energy efficiency. In particular, we focus on developing decentralized beamforming and traffic flow controller design, energy efficient design under time average QoS constraints and decentralized scheduling strategy in a multi-cell scenario. To this end, we use tools from Lyapunov optimization, random matrix theory and stochastic control theory.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:36:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo9409_1.pdf: 2593707 bytes, checksum: c82123beb5138e539b7e5a7a30279094 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Nesta Tese são propostas diversas estratégias para projetar redes ópticas WDM de forma otimizada. As redes são consideradas com tráfego dinâmico e penalizadas pelas penalidades da camada física. As estratégias propostas lidam com os principais elementos que afetam a relação custo desempenho em uma rede óptica: o algoritmo de roteamento e atribuição de comprimentos de onda (RWA), a colocação de regeneradores (RP), a atribuição de regeneradores (RA), o projeto da topologia física da rede (PTD) e o dimensionamento dos dispositivos ópticos (DDO) que serão instalados na rede. Esses problemas são tratados tanto de forma separada quanto de forma integrada na Tese. Para o RWA, é proposta uma metodologia para se projetar algoritmos heurísticos de roteamento que têm como objetivo o aumento no desempenho da rede e que levam em conta as penalidades da camada física. Para a solução do RP são propostos algoritmos heurísticos e metaheurísticos para o projeto de redes ópticas translúcidas, considerando simultaneamente a otimização dos custos de capital (CapEx) e operacional (OpEx) e do desempenho da rede. O problema de PTD é tratado em conjunto com o DDO também de forma mutiobjetiva, considerando a otimização simultânea do CapEx e do desempenho (probabilidade de bloqueio). Um algoritmo multiobjetivo para realização da expansão de topologia (i.e. adição de novos enlaces a uma rede já existente) também é proposto. Além disso, são resolvidos conjuntamente os problemas de PTD, RP e RWA de forma mutiobjetiva considerando a otimização simultânea de CapEx e desempenho da rede. As otimizações das soluções são feitas utilizando as seguintes estratégias metaheuristicas propostas na área de inteligência computacional: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) e Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II)

Les progrès réalisés en systèmes micro-électro-mécaniques couplés avec leur convergence vers les systèmes de communication sans fil, ont permis l'émergence des réseaux de capteurs sans fil (RCSF). Les contraintes de ces réseaux font que tous les efforts soient fournis pour proposer des solutions économes en énergie. Avec les récents développements des technologies CMOS, des capteurs d'images à faible coût ont été développés. En conséquence, un nouveau dérivé des RCSF, qui sont les Réseaux de Capteurs Vidéo Sans Fil (RCVSF), a été proposé. La particularité des données vidéo ainsi que les contraintes inhérentes aux nœuds ont introduit de nouveaux défis. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons deux solutions basées sur l'approche inter-couches pour la livraison de la vidéo sur les RCVSF. La première solution propose un nouveau schéma de compression vidéo adaptatif, efficace en énergie et basé sur la norme de compression vidéo H.264/AVC. Le flux vidéo est ensuite géré par une version améliorée du protocole MMSPEED que nous proposons et notons EQBSA-MMSPEED. Les résultats des simulations montrent que la durée de vie du réseau est étendue de 33%, tout en améliorant la qualité du flux vidéo reçu de 12%. Dans la deuxième solution, nous enrichissons le schéma de compression de modèles mathématiques pour prévoir la consommation d'énergie et la distorsion de l'image lors des phases d'encodage et de transmission. Le flux vidéo est géré par un nouveau protocole de routage efficace en énergie et à fiabilité améliorée noté ERMM. Comparée à une approche basique, cette solution réalise une extension de la durée de vie du réseau de 15%, tout en améliorant la qualité du flux vidéo reçu de 35%. / Thanks to the valuable advances in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems coupled with their convergence to wireless communication systems, the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). In the WSN context, all the efforts are made in order to propose energy-efficient solutions. With the recent developments in CMOS technology, low-cost imaging sensors have been developed. As a result, a new derivative of the WSN, which is the Wireless Video Sensor Network (WVSN), has been proposed. The particularities of the video data as well as the inherent constraints of the nodes have introduced new challenges. In this thesis, we propose two cross-layer based solutions for video delivery over the WVSN. The first solution proposes a new energy efficient and adaptive video compression scheme dedicated to the WVSNs, based on the H.264/AVC video compression standard. The video stream is then handled by an enhanced version of MMSPEED protocol, that we propose and note EQBSA-MMSPEED. Performance evaluation shows that the lifetime of the network is extended by 33%, while improving the video quality of the received stream by 12%. In the second solution, we enrich our compression scheme with mathematical models to predict the energy consumption and the video distortion during the encoding and the transmission phases. The video stream is then handled by a novel energy efficient and improved reliability routing protocol, that we note ERMM. Compared to a basic approach, this solution is extending the network lifetime by 15%, while improving the quality of the received video stream by 35%.

Le protocole MAC du standard IEEE 802.11p dédié aux réseaux véhiculaires interdit les transmissions simultanées dans une même zone de détection afin d’éviter d’éventuelles interférences entre les véhicules voisins. Cette interdiction entraîne un blocage temporaire de réception de données, ce qui diminue le débit global du réseau. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous proposons dans cette thèse une architecture cross-layer PHY/MAC basée sur un algorithme de sélection d’antennes émettrices et un protocole MAC dédié afin de réduire le blocage. Ce cross-layer permet au récepteur de choisir la meilleure combinaison d’antennes émettrices pour améliorer le débit utile normalisé de chaque lien V2V. L’algorithme est présenté avec une méthode de détection multi-utilisateurs. Cette méthode annule les interférences entre voisins et permet à plusieurs véhicules d’émettre des données simultanément. Le protocole MAC associé assure la coordination entre les véhicules durant les communications. Les résultats de simulation montrent une amélioration du débit utile normalisé du réseau en comparaison au standard actuel. Néanmoins, ces bonnes performances diminuent avec l’augmentation de la densité véhiculaire. Pour pallier à cette baisse, nous proposons de joindre à la première solution une nouvelle architecture crosslayer PHY/MAC. Cette architecture est basée sur un algorithme d’adaptation de la puissance émise en fonction de la densité de voisinage du récepteur. Elle est également accompagnée par un protocole MAC dédié. Les résultats de simulation montrent que cette solution permet à plus de véhicules de communiquer simultanément et ainsi améliore significativement le débit utile normalisé notamment dans les réseaux véhiculaires denses. / The MAC protocol IEEE 802.11p, dedicated to vehicular ad-hoc networks VANETs, prohibits simultaneous transmissions in the same detection area, in order to avoid interference between neighboring vehicles. This prohibition causes a temporary data reception blocking, which reduces the network throughput. To reduce this adverse impact, we propose in this thesis a cross-layer design PHY/MAC based on a transmit antennas selection algorithm jointly with a dedicated MAC protocol. This design allows receivers to select the best combination of transmit antennas to improve the throughput of each V2V link. The algorithm is presented with a multi-user detection method, which cancels neighbor’s interference and allows vehicles to transmit data simultaneously. The associated MAC protocol ensures the coordination between vehicles during the simultaneous transmission period. The simulation results show a significant network throughput improvement compared to the conventional case. However, this improvement is less important in dense VANETs. For this purpose, we propose to join a cross-layer design PHY/MAC based on a transmit power adaptation algorithm. This design allows transmitters to choice the adequate power level based on corresponding receivers density. The simulation results show that this solution allows more vehicles to communicate simultaneously and thus improves the network throughput, in particular in dense VANETs.

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are event based systems that rely on the collective effort of densely deployed sensor nodes continuously observing a physical phenomenon. The spatio-temporal correlation between the sensor observations and the cross-layer design advantages are significant and unique to the design of WSN. Due to the high density in the network topology, sensor observations are highly correlated in the space domain. Furthermore, the nature of the energy-radiating physical phenomenon constitutes the temporal correlation between each consecutive observation of a sensor node. This unique characteristic of WSN can be exploited through a cross-layer design of communication functionalities to improve energy efficiency of the network. In this thesis, several key elements are investigated to capture and exploit the correlation in the WSN for the realization of advanced efficient communication protocols. A theoretical framework is developed to capture the spatial and temporal correlations in WSN and to enable the development of efficient communication protocols. Based on this framework, spatial Correlation-based Collaborative Medium Access Control (CC-MAC) protocol is described, which exploits the spatial correlation in the WSN in order to achieve efficient medium access. Furthermore, the cross-layer module (XLM), which melts common protocol layer functionalities into a cross-layer module for resource-constrained sensor nodes, is developed. The cross-layer analysis of error control in WSN is then presented to enable a comprehensive comparison of error control schemes for WSN. Finally, the cross-layer packet size optimization framework is described.

As more and more wireless applications/services emerge in the market, the already heavily crowded radio spectrum becomes much scarcer. Meanwhile, however,as it is reported in the recent literature, there is a large amount of radio spectrum that is under-utilized. This motivates the concept of cognitive radio wireless networks that allow the unlicensed secondary-users (SUs) to dynamically use the vacant radio spectrum which is not being used by the licensed primary-users (PUs). In this dissertation, we investigate protocol design for both the synchronous and asynchronous cognitive radio networks with emphasis on the medium access control (MAC) layer. We propose various spectrum sharing schemes, opportunistic packet scheduling schemes, and spectrum sensing schemes in the MAC and physical (PHY) layers for different types of cognitive radio networks, allowing the SUs to opportunistically utilize the licensed spectrum while confining the level of interference to the range the PUs can tolerate. First, we propose the cross-layer based multi-channel MAC protocol, which integrates the cooperative spectrum sensing at PHY layer and the interweave-based spectrum access at MAC layer, for the synchronous cognitive radio networks. Second, we propose the channel-hopping based single-transceiver MAC protocol for the hardware-constrained synchronous cognitive radio networks, under which the SUs can identify and exploit the vacant channels by dynamically switching across the licensed channels with their distinct channel-hopping sequences. Third, we propose the opportunistic multi-channel MAC protocol with the two-threshold sequential spectrum sensing algorithm for asynchronous cognitive radio networks. Fourth, by combining the interweave and underlay spectrum sharing modes, we propose the adaptive spectrum sharing scheme for code division multiple access (CDMA) based cognitive MAC in the uplink communications over the asynchronous cognitive radio networks, where the PUs may have different types of channel usage patterns. Finally, we develop a packet scheduling scheme for the PU MAC protocol in the context of time division multiple access (TDMA)-based cognitive radio wireless networks, which is designed to operate friendly towards the SUs in terms of the vacant-channel probability. We also develop various analytical models, including the Markov chain models, M=GY =1 queuing models, cross-layer optimization models, etc., to rigorously analyze the performance of our proposed MAC protocols in terms of aggregate throughput, access delay, and packet drop rate for both the saturation network case and non-saturation network case. In addition, we conducted extensive simulations to validate our analytical models and evaluate our proposed MAC protocols/schemes. Both the numerical and simulation results show that our proposed MAC protocols/schemes can significantly improve the spectrum utilization efficiency of wireless networks.

Abstract Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consisting of battery-powered sensors are increasingly deployed for a myriad of Internet of Things applications, e.g., environmental, industrial, and healthcare monitoring. Since wireless access is typically the main contributor to battery usage, minimizing communications is crucial to prolong network lifetime and improve user experience. The objective of this thesis is to develop and analyze energy-efficient distributed compressed data acquisition techniques for WSNs. The thesis proposes four approaches to conserve sensors' energy by minimizing the amount of information each sensor has to transmit to meet given application requirements. The first part addresses a cross-layer design to minimize the sensors’ sum transmit power via joint optimization of resource allocation and multi-path routing. A distributed consensus optimization based algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. The algorithm is shown to have superior convergence compared to several baselines. The remaining parts deal with compressed sensing (CS) of sparse/compressible sources. The second part focuses on the distributed CS acquisition of spatially and temporally correlated sensor data streams. A CS algorithm based on sliding window and recursive decoding is developed. The method is shown to achieve higher reconstruction accuracy with fewer transmissions and less decoding delay and complexity compared to several baselines, and to progressively refine past estimates. The last two approaches incorporate the quantization of CS measurements and focus on lossy source coding. The third part addresses the distributed quantized CS (QCS) acquisition of correlated sparse sources. A distortion-rate optimized variable-rate QCS method is proposed. The method is shown to achieve higher distortion-rate performance than the baselines and to enable a trade-off between compression performance and encoding complexity via the pre-quantization of measurements. The fourth part investigates information-theoretic rate-distortion (RD) performance limits of single-sensor QCS. A lower bound to the best achievable compression — defined by the remote RD function (RDF) — is derived. A method to numerically approximate the remote RDF is proposed. The results compare practical QCS methods to the derived limits, and show a novel QCS method to approach the remote RDF. / Tiivistelmä Patterikäyttöisistä antureista koostuvat langattomat anturiverkot yleistyvät esineiden internetin myötä esim. ympäristö-, teollisuus-, ja terveydenhoitosovelluksissa. Koska langaton tiedonsiirto kuluttaa merkittävästi energiaa, kommunikoinnin minimointi on elintärkeää pidentämään verkon elinikää ja parantamaan käyttäjäkokemusta. Väitöskirjan tavoitteena on kehittää ja analysoida energiatehokkaita hajautettuja pakattuja datankeruumenetelmiä langattomiin anturiverkkoihin. Työssä ehdotetaan neljä lähestymistapaa, jotka säästävät anturien energiaa minimoimalla se tiedonsiirron määrä, mikä vaaditaan täyttämään sovelluksen asettamat kriteerit. Väitöskirjan ensimmäinen osa tarkastelee protokollakerrosten yhteissuunnittelua, jossa minimoidaan anturien yhteislähetysteho optimoimalla resurssiallokaatio ja monitiereititys. Ratkaisuksi ehdotetaan konsensukseen perustuva hajautettu algoritmi. Tulokset osoittavat algoritmin suppenemisominaisuuksien olevan verrokkejaan paremmat. Loppuosat keskittyvät harvojen lähteiden pakattuun havaintaan (compressed sensing, CS). Toinen osa keskittyy tila- ja aikatasossa korreloituneen anturidatan hajautettuun keräämiseen. Työssä kehitetään liukuvaan ikkunaan ja rekursiiviseen dekoodaukseen perustuva CS-algoritmi. Tulokset osoittavat menetelmän saavuttavan verrokkejaan korkeamman rekonstruktiotarkkuuden pienemmällä tiedonsiirrolla sekä dekoodausviiveellä ja -kompleksisuudella ja kykenevän asteittain parantamaan menneitä estimaatteja. Työn viimeiset osat sisällyttävät järjestelmämalliin CS-mittausten kvantisoinnin keskittyen häviölliseen lähdekoodaukseen. Kolmas osa käsittelee hajautettua korreloitujen harvojen signaalien kvantisoitua CS-havaintaa (quantized CS, QCS). Työssä ehdotetaan särön ja muuttuvan koodinopeuden välisen suhteen optimoiva QCS-menetelmä. Menetelmällä osoitetaan olevan verrokkejaan parempi pakkaustehokkuus sekä kyky painottaa suorituskyvyn ja enkooderin kompleksisuuden välillä mittausten esikvantisointia käyttäen. Neljäs osa tutkii informaatioteoreettisia, koodisuhde-särösuhteeseen perustuvia suorituskykyrajoja yhden anturin QCS-järjestelmässä. Parhaimmalle mahdolliselle pakkaustehokkuudelle johdetaan alaraja, sekä kehitetään menetelmä sen numeeriseen arviointiin. Tulokset vertaavat käytännön QCS-menetelmiä johdettuihin rajoihin, ja osoittavat ehdotetun QCS-menetelmän saavuttavan lähes optimaalinen suorituskyky.

Submitted by Eduarda Figueiredo (eduarda.ffigueiredo@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-06T13:44:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 chaves.pdf: 2856967 bytes, checksum: 08cd733e8cb84a531adc13230e5edaaf (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-06T13:44:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 chaves.pdf: 2856967 bytes, checksum: 08cd733e8cb84a531adc13230e5edaaf (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-24 / CNPq e CAPES / Nesta Tese são propostas diversas estratégias para projetar redes ópticas WDM de forma otimizada. As redes são consideradas com tráfego dinâmico e penalizadas pelas penalidades da camada física. As estratégias propostas lidam com os principais elementos que afetam a relação custo desempenho em uma rede óptica: o algoritmo de roteamento e atribuição de comprimentos de onda (RWA), a colocação de regeneradores (RP), a atribuição de regeneradores (RA), o projeto da topologia física da rede (PTD) e o dimensionamento dos dispositivos ópticos (DDO) que serão instalados na rede. Esses problemas são tratados tanto de forma separada quanto de forma integrada na Tese. Para o RWA, é proposta uma metodologia para se projetar algoritmos heurísticos de roteamento que têm como objetivo o aumento no desempenho da rede e que levam em conta as penalidades da camada física. Para a solução do RP são propostos algoritmos heurísticos e metaheurísticos para o projeto de redes ópticas translúcidas, considerando simultaneamente a otimização dos custos de capital (CapEx) e operacional (OpEx) e do desempenho da rede. O problema de PTD é tratado em conjunto com o DDO também de forma mutiobjetiva, considerando a otimização simultânea do CapEx e do desempenho (probabilidade de bloqueio). Um algoritmo multiobjetivo para realização da expansão de topologia (i.e. adição de novos enlaces a uma rede já existente) também é proposto. Além disso, são resolvidos conjuntamente os problemas de PTD, RP e RWA de forma mutiobjetiva considerando a otimização simultânea de CapEx e desempenho da rede. As otimizações das soluções são feitas utilizando as seguintes estratégias metaheuristicas propostas na área de inteligência computacional: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) e Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II).

Auf dem Gebiet der drahtlosen Kommunikation und insbesondere auf den tieferen Netzwerkschichten sind gewaltige Fortschritte zu verzeichnen. Innovative Konzepte und Technologien auf der physikalischen Schicht (PHY) gehen dabei zeitnah in zelluläre Netze ein. Drahtlose Maschennetzwerke (WMNs) können mit diesem Innovationstempo nicht mithalten. Die Mehrnutzer-Kommunikation ist ein Grundpfeiler vieler angewandter PHY Technologien, die sich in WMNs nur ungenügend auf die etablierte Schichtenarchitektur abbilden lässt. Insbesondere ist das Problem des Scheduling in WMNs inhärent komplex. Erstaunlicherweise ist der Mehrfachzugriff mit Trägerprüfung (CSMA) in WMNs asymptotisch optimal obwohl das Verfahren eine geringe Durchführungskomplexität aufweist. Daher stellt sich die Frage, in welcher Weise das dem CSMA zugrunde liegende Konzept des konkurrierenden Wettbewerbs (engl. Contention) für die Integration innovativer PHY Technologien verwendet werden kann. Opportunistische Kommunikation ist eine Technik, die die inhärenten Besonderheiten des drahtlosen Kanals ausnutzt. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden CSMA-basierte Protokolle für die opportunistische Kommunikation in WMNs entwickelt und evaluiert. Es werden dabei opportunistisches Routing (OR) im zustandslosen Kanal und opportunistisches Scheduling (OS) im zustandsbehafteten Kanal betrachtet. Ziel ist es, den Durchsatz von elastischen Paketflüssen gerecht zu maximieren. Es werden Modelle für Überlastkontrolle, Routing und konkurrenzbasierte opportunistische Kommunikation vorgestellt. Am Beispiel von IEEE 802.11 wird illustriert, wie der schichtübergreifende Entwurf in einem Netzwerksimulator prototypisch implementiert werden kann. Auf Grundlage der Evaluationsresultate kann der Schluss gezogen werden, dass die opportunistische Kommunikation konkurrenzbasiert realisierbar ist. Darüber hinaus steigern die vorgestellten Protokolle den Durchsatz im Vergleich zu etablierten Lösungen wie etwa DCF, DSR, ExOR, RBAR und ETT. / In the field of wireless communication, a tremendous progress can be observed especially at the lower layers. Innovative physical layer (PHY) concepts and technologies can be rapidly assimilated in cellular networks. Wireless mesh networks (WMNs), on the other hand, cannot keep up with the speed of innovation at the PHY due to their flat and decentralized architecture. Many innovative PHY technologies rely on multi-user communication, so that the established abstraction of the network stack does not work well for WMNs. The scheduling problem in WMNs is inherent complex. Surprisingly, carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) in WMNs is asymptotically utility-optimal even though it has a low computational complexity and does not involve message exchange. Hence, the question arises whether CSMA and the underlying concept of contention allows for the assimilation of advanced PHY technologies into WMNs. In this thesis, we design and evaluate contention protocols based on CSMA for opportunistic communication in WMNs. Opportunistic communication is a technique that relies on multi-user diversity in order to exploit the inherent characteristics of the wireless channel. In particular, we consider opportunistic routing (OR) and opportunistic scheduling (OS) in memoryless and slow fading channels, respectively. We present models for congestion control, routing and contention-based opportunistic communication in WMNs in order to maximize both throughput and fairness of elastic unicast traffic flows. At the instance of IEEE 802.11, we illustrate how the cross-layer algorithms can be implemented within a network simulator prototype. Our evaluation results lead to the conclusion that contention-based opportunistic communication is feasible. Furthermore, the proposed protocols increase both throughput and fairness in comparison to state-of-the-art approaches like DCF, DSR, ExOR, RBAR and ETT.