Low latency applications, such as multimedia communications, autonomous vehicles, and Tactile Internet are the emerging applications for next-generation wireless networks, such as 5th generation (5G) mobile networks. Existing physical-layer channel models, however, do not explicitly consider quality-of-service (QoS) aware related parameters under specific delay constraints. To investigate the performance of low-latency applications in future networks, a new mathematical framework is needed. Effective capacity (EC), which is a link-layer channel model with QoS-awareness, can be used to investigate the performance of wireless networks under certain statistical delay constraints. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on existing works, that use the EC model in various wireless networks. We summarize the work related to EC for different networks, such as cognitive radio networks (CRNs), cellular networks, relay networks, adhoc networks, and mesh networks. We explore five case studies encompassing EC operation with different design and architectural requirements. We survey various delay-sensitive applications, such as voice and video with their EC analysis under certain delay constraints. We finally present the future research directions with open issues covering EC maximization.

中文翻译：

---

无线网络中的有效容量：综合调查

多媒体通信、自动驾驶汽车和触觉互联网等低延迟应用是下一代无线网络（如第 5 代 (5G) 移动网络）的新兴应用。然而，现有的物理层信道模型并未明确考虑特定延迟约束下的服务质量 (QoS) 感知相关参数。为了研究未来网络中低延迟应用程序的性能，需要一个新的数学框架。有效容量 (EC) 是具有 QoS 意识的链路层信道模型，可用于研究在某些统计延迟约束下无线网络的性能。在本文中，我们对现有工作进行了全面调查，这些工作在各种无线网络中使用 EC 模型。我们总结了不同网络的 EC 相关工作，例如认知无线电网络 (CRN)、蜂窝网络、中继网络、adhoc 网络和网状网络。我们探索了五个案例研究，涵盖具有不同设计和架构要求的 EC 运营。我们调查了各种延迟敏感的应用程序，例如语音和视频，并在某些延迟约束下对其进行 EC 分析。我们最终通过涵盖 EC 最大化的开放问题来提出未来的研究方向。