A QoS-aware multicast routing protocol

The future Internet is expected to support multicast applications with quality of service (QoS) requirements. To facilitate this, QoS multicast routing protocols are pivotal in enabling new receivers to join a multicast group. However, current routing protocols are either too restrictive in their search for a feasible path between a new receiver and the multicast tree, or burden the network with excessive overhead. We propose QMRP, a new QoS-aware multicast routing protocol. QMRP achieves scalability by significantly reducing the communication overhead of constructing a multicast tree, yet it retains a high chance of success. This is achieved by switching between single-path routing and multiple-path routing according to the current network conditions. The high level design of QMRP makes it operable on top of any unicast routing algorithm in both intradomain and interdomain. Its responsiveness is improved by using a termination mechanism which detects the failure as well as the success of routing without the use of timeout. In addition, QMRP always constructs loop-free multicast trees     

Scaling Group Communication Services with Self-adaptive and Utility-driven Message Routing

Group communication services typically generate large multicast data streams. Delivering such massive data streams to the end system nodes at the edge of the Internet has been a challenging problem in terms of high stress on the network links and high demand on network resources and routing node capacities. Most of existing research has been dedicated on geo-distance based routing with various optimizations to alleviate the performance impact on geo-distance based routing due to unpredictable network dynamics. Most representative techniques are targeted at reducing the delivery path length or optimizing routing path by utilizing network locality. In this paper, we identify the inefficiency of geo-distance based routing protocols in many existing multicast overlay networks in terms of both resource utilization and group communication efficiency. To address this issue, we develop a utility-based routing scheme (UDR) that can provide efficient group communication services in a decentralized geographical overlay network. Our approach makes three unique contributions. First, we introduce a utility function to refine the geo-distance based routing in such a way that the routing path selection can carefully incorporate both geo-distance based metric and the network latency. Second, we enhance our utility driven routing scheme with self-adaptive capability by considering the nodes?? state and network density. Thus, nodes in the multicast network can dynamically accommodate the changes of network conditions based solely on their local knowledge about the network. Third, we devise a suite of optimization techniques to minimize the maintenance cost and computational complexity of our self-adaptive and utility-drive routing scheme. We evaluate our approach through extensive experiments based on a realistic network topology model and show that the UDR method is highly scalable and it effectively enhances the multicast delivery efficiency for large scale group communication services compared to existing geo-distance based routing protocols.     

IP multicasting over ATM networks

The Internet protocol (IP) multicast model involves a combination of intrasubnet and intersubnet multicast mechanisms. Technologies supporting a given subnet are expected to have native mechanisms for supporting intrasubnet forwarding of packets sent to multicast destinations. Multicast routers attach to subnets and provide intersubnet forwarding of multicast packets, using interdomain multicast routing protocols developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Unfortunately, ATM networks based on UNI 3.0 or UNI 3.1 signaling service do not provide the native multicast support expected by IP. This has led the IETF to develop the “MARS model”-a fairly complex mechanism for emulating intrasubnet multicast support required when running IPs over ATMs. This paper takes a high level look at the IP multicast service, examines the limitations of the ATM point-to-multipoint virtual channel service, and describes the major architectural points of the MARS model     

Scalable QoS-based IP multicast over label-switching wireless ATMnetworks

A Mobile IP multicast prototype that integrates a label-switching wireless asynchronous transfer mode, the mobile core-based multicast architecture, and an Internet multicast infrastructure is presented. MCOM creates multiple core-based layer 2 multicast trees that are independently established in member networks. They are interconnected via the Internet using layer 3 multicast routing. Gateways on the border of the Internet and wireless ATM networks convert ATM multicast traffic to suitable IP packets as well as converting from IP packets to ATM cells for MCOM. To solve the cell interleaving problem that results, ATM block transfer/immediate transmission capability is reasonably modified. Additionally, class-based block buffer management for ATM multicast connections is built into wireless ATM switches for soft quality of service control. Dynamic group management, multicast channel rerouting, and reliable multicasting are also studied in relation to existing Internet protocols like Mobile IP, Internet group management protocols, and multicast routing protocols     

Mobile and Multicast IP Services in PACS: System Architecture, Prototype, and Performance

Traditionally, wireless cellular communication systems have been engineered for voice. With the explosive growth of Internet applications and users, there is an increasing demand on providing Internet services to mobile users based on the voice-oriented cellular networks. However, Internet services add a set of radically different requirements on to the cellular wireless networks, because the nature of communication is very different from voice. It is a challenge to develop an adequate network architecture and necessary systems components to meet those requirements.This paper describes our experience on developing Internet services, in particular, mobile and multicast IP services, in PACS (Personal Access Communication Systems). Our major contributions are five-fold: (i) PACS system architecture that provides wireless Internet and Intranet access by augmenting the voice network with IP routers and backbone links to connect to the Internet; (ii) simplified design of RPCU (Radio Port Controller Unit) for easy service maintenance and migration to future IP standards such as IPv6; (iii) native PACS multicast to efficiently support dynamic IP multicast and MBone connectivity; (iv) optimization and incorporation of Mobile IP into PACS handoff mechanism to efficiently support roaming within a PACS network as well as global mobility between PACS networks and the Internet; (v) successful prototype design of the new architecture and services verified by extensive performance measurements of IP applications. Our design experience and measurement results demonstrate that it is highly feasible to seamlessly integrate the PACS networks into the Internet with global IP mobility and IP multicast services.     

The evolution of multicast: from the MBone to interdomain multicastto Internet2 deployment

Multicast communication-the one-to-many or many-to-many delivery of data-is a hot topic. It is of interest in the research community, among standards groups, and to network service providers. For all the attention multicast has received, there are still issues that have not been completely resolved. One result is that protocols are still evolving, and some standards are not yet finished. From a deployment perspective, the lack of standards has slowed progress, but efforts to deploy multicast as an experimental service are in fact gaining momentum. The question now is how long it will be before multicast becomes a true Internet service. The goal of this article is to describe the past, present, and future of multicast. Starting with the Multicast Backbone (MBone), we describe how the emphasis has been on developing and refining intradomain multicast routing protocols. Starting in the middle to late 1990s, particular emphasis has been placed on developing interdomain multicast routing protocols. We provide a functional overview of the currently deployed solution. The future of multicast may hinge on several research efforts that are working to make the provision of multicast less complex by fundamentally changing the multicast model. We survey these efforts. Finally, attempts are being made to deploy native multicast routing in both Internet2 networks and the commodity Internet. We examine how multicast is being deployed in these networks     

Morphing distribution trees—On the evolution of multicast states under mobility and an adaptive routing scheme for mobile SSM sources

Source Specific Multicast (SSM) promises a wider dissemination of group distribution services than Any Source Multicast, as it relies on simpler routing strategies with reduced demands on the infrastructure. However, SSM is designed for á priori known and changeless addresses of multicast sources and thus withstands any easy extension to mobility. Up until now only few approaches arose from the Internet research community, leaving SSM source mobility as a major open problem. The purpose of this paper is twofold. At first we analyze characteristic properties of multicast shortest path trees evolving under source mobility. Analytically and by stochastic simulations we derive measures on the complexity of SSM routing under source mobility. At second we introduce a straightforward extension to multicast routing for transforming (morphing) source specific delivery trees into optimal trees rooted at a relocated source. All packet forwarding is done free of tunneling. Multicast service disruption and signaling overhead for the algorithms remain close to minimal. Further on we evaluate the proposed scheme using both, analytical estimates and stochastic simulations based on a variety of real-world Internet topology data. Detailed comparisons are drawn to bi-directional tunneling, as well as to proposals on concurrent distribution trees.     

Deployment issues for the IP multicast service and architecture

IP multicast offers the scalable point-to-multipoint delivery necessary for using group communication applications on the Internet. However, the IP multicast service has seen slow commercial deployment by ISPs and carriers. The original service model was designed without a clear understanding of commercial requirements or a robust implementation strategy. The very limited number of applications and the complexity of the architectural design-which we believe is a consequence of the open service model-have deterred widespread deployment as well. We examine the issues that have limited the commercial deployment of IP multicast from the viewpoint of carriers. We analyze where the model fails and what it does not offer, and we discuss requirements for successful deployment of multicast services     

多点并行蚁群搜索在多限制动态组播中的应用研究

随着Internet的快速发展和商用化的提高，多媒体组播通信越来越引起人们的广泛关注。以往的研究成果大多是集中在固定的多点模型上，而许多服务是无法应用这种应用模型的。本文在充分研究以往组播通信的基础上，针对没有固定组成员的动态组播通信提出了运用蚁群算法进行并行寻路的算法模型。同时，为了加快蚁群算法的收敛速度，对该算法进行了一定的改进。仿真试验表明，该算法是一种有效的适应动态组成员的组播路由算法，具有一定的实用价值。     

Dynamic agent-based hierarchical multicast for wireless mesh networks

We propose and analyze a multicast algorithm named Dynamic Agent-based Hierarchical Multicast (DAHM) for wireless mesh networks that supports user mobility and dynamic group membership. The objective of DAHM is to minimize the overall network cost incurred. DAHM dynamically selects multicast routers serving as multicast agents for integrated mobility and multicast service management, effectively combining backbone multicast routing and local unicast routing into an integrated algorithm. As the name suggests, DAHM employs a two-level hierarchical multicast structure. At the upper level is a backbone multicast tree consisting of mesh routers with multicast agents being the leaves. At the lower level, each multicast agent services those multicast group members within its service region. A multicast group member changes its multicast agent when it moves out of the service region of the current multicast agent. The optimal service region size of a multicast agent is a critical system parameter. We propose a model-based approach to dynamically determine the optimal service region size that achieves network cost minimization. Through a comparative performance study, we show that DAHM significantly outperforms two existing baseline multicast algorithms based on multicast tree structures with dynamic updates upon member movement and group membership changes.     

基于NR的5G多播/广播关键技术

交互式网络电视（internet protocol television，IPTV）、群组通信等应用具有明显的多播/广播业务特征，5G蜂窝移动通信系统需要高效支持这类应用数据的传输。首先，按照多播/广播业务数据从5G核心网经由基站到终端的不同传输方式分析了 5G 多播/广播系统的基本架构；然后，从无线空口协议栈、物理层与高层协议增强、业务过程与业务连续性等方面对5G多播/广播无线传输技术进行了详细分析；最后，对5G多播/广播技术的后续演进方向进行了展望。     

Stateless overlay multicast with in-packet bloom filters

Due to the difficulty of deploying Internet protocol (IP) multicast on the Internet on a large scale, overlay multicast has been considered as a promising alternative to develop the multicast communication in recent years. However, the existing overlay multicast solutions suffer from high costs to maintain the state information of nodes in the multicast forwarding tree. A stateless overlay multicast scheme is proposed, in which the multicast routing information is encoded by a bloom filter (BF) and encapsulated into the packet header without any need for maintaining the multicast forwarding tree. Our scheme leverages the node heterogeneity and proximity information in the physical topology and hierarchically constructs the transit-stub overlay topology by assigning geometric coordinates to all overlay nodes. More importantly, the scheme uses BF technology to identify the nodes and links of the multicast forwarding tree, which improves the forwarding efficiency and decreases the false-positive forwarding loop. The analytical and simulation results show that the proposal can achieve high forwarding efficiency and good scalability.     

A ring-based multicast routing topology with QoS support in wireless mesh networks

Wireless mesh networking (WMN) is an emerging technology for future broadband wireless access. The proliferation of the mobile computing devices that are equipped with cameras and ad hoc communication mode creates the possibility of exchanging real-time data between mobile users in wireless mesh networks. In this paper, we argue for a ring-based multicast routing topology with support from infrastructure nodes for group communications in WMNs. We study the performance of multicast communication over a ring routing topology when 802.11 with RTS/CTS scheme is used at the MAC layer to enable reliable multicast services in WMNs. We propose an algorithm to enhance the IP multicast routing on the ring topology. We show that when mesh routers on a ring topology support group communications by employing our proposed algorithms, a significant performance enhancement is realized. We analytically compute the end-to-end delay on a ring multicast routing topology. Our results show that the end-to-end delay is reduced about 33 %, and the capacity of multicast network (i.e., maximum group size that the ring can serve with QoS guarantees) is increased about 50 % as compared to conventional schemes. We also use our analytical results to develop heuristic algorithms for constructing an efficient ring-based multicast routing topology with QoS guarantees. The proposed algorithms take into account all possible traffic interference when constructing the multicast ring topology. Thus, the constructed ring topology provides QoS guarantees for the multicast traffic and minimizes the cost of group communications in WMNs.     

A protocol for scalable loop-free multicast routing

In network multimedia applications such as multiparty teleconferencing, users often need to send the same information to several (but not necessarily all) other users. To manage such one-to-many or many-to-many communication efficiently in wide-area internetworks, it is imperative to support and perform multicast routing. Multicast routing sends a single copy of a message from a source to multiple receivers over a communication link that is shared by the paths to the receivers. Loop-freedom is an especially important consideration in multicasting because applications using multicasting tend to be multimedia and bandwidth intensive, and loops in multicast routing duplicate looping packets. We present and verify a new multicast routing protocol, called multicast Internet protocol (MIP), which offers a simple and flexible approach to constructing both group-shared and shortest-paths multicast trees. MIP can be sender-initiated or receiver-initiated or both; therefore, it can be tailored to the particular nature of an application's group dynamics and size. MIP is independent of the underlying unicast routing algorithms used. MIP is robust and adapts under dynamic network conditions (topology or link cost changes) to maintain loop-free multicast routing. Under stable network conditions, MIP has no maintenance or control message overhead. We prove that MIP is loop-free at every instant, and that it is deadlock-free and obtains multicast routing trees within a finite time after the occurrence of an arbitrary sequence of topology or unicast changes     

Power aware scalable multicast routing protocol for MANETs

Multicasting is an effective way to provide group communication. In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), multicasting can support a wide variety of applications that are characterized by a close degree of collaboration. Since MANETs exhibit severe resource constraints such as battery power, limited bandwidth, dynamic network topology and lack of centralized administration, multicasting in MANETs become complex. The existing multicast routing protocols concentrate more on quality of service parameters like end‐to‐end delay, jitter, bandwidth and power. They do not stress on the scalability factor of the multicast. In this paper, we address the problem of multicast scalability and propose an efficient scalable multicast routing protocol called ‘Power Aware Scalable Multicast Routing Protocol (PASMRP)’ for MANETs. PASMRP uses the concept of class of service with three priority levels and local re‐routing to provide scalability. The protocol also ensures fair utilization of the resources among the nodes through re‐routing and hence the lifetime of the network is increased. The protocol has been simulated and the results show that PASMRP has better scalability and enhanced lifetime than the existing multicast routing protocols. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multicast forwarding over ATM: Native approaches

Multicasting is growing in importance as new multimedia applications are devised. Throughout this article, multicasting is understood as the efficient multipoint-to-multipoint transmission of information (in terms of network resource consumption) between the members of a group. Most multicast services have been designed up to now to work over connectionless environments. The approach adopted by connection-oriented networks has been to try to imitate these connectionless multicast schemes with the aim of supporting IP multicast or network-layer broadcast. However, these solutions present drawbacks in terms of delay or signaling overhead. The goal of native ATM multicasting is to provide multicast communications support by taking into account the characteristics of ATM. Therefore, the design philosophy of multicast must be rethought by making it more suitable for connection-oriented networks. Native ATM multicasting is based on mechanisms implemented at the switches to allow the correct ATM-layer multicast forwarding of information. These mechanisms seek to avoid the delay and signaling problems of current solutions, e.g., LAN emulation and IP multicast over ATM. This article provides a survey of the literature on the strategies that offer multicast communications in ATM environments, with special stress on native ATM multicast forwarding mechanisms. Other aspects, such as signaling, quality of service, traffic control, and routing, are not addressed in detail in this article.     

Incremental service deployment using the hop-by-hop multicast routing protocol

IP multicast is facing a slow take-off although it has been a hotly debated topic for more than a decade. Many reasons are responsible for this status. Hence, the Internet is likely to be organized with both unicast and multicast enabled networks. Thus, it is of utmost importance to design protocols that allow the progressive deployment of the multicast service by supporting unicast clouds. This paper presents HBH (hop-by-hop multicast routing protocol). HBH adopts the source-specific channel abstraction to simplify address allocation and implements data distribution using recursive unicast trees, which allow the transparent support of unicast-only routers. An important original feature of HBH is its tree construction algorithm that takes into account the unicast routing asymmetries. Since most multicast routing protocols rely on the unicast infrastructure, the unicast asymmetries impact the structure of the multicast trees. We show through simulation that HBH outperforms other multicast routing protocols in terms of the delay experienced by the receivers and the bandwidth consumption of the multicast trees. Additionally, we show that HBH can be incrementally deployed and that with a small fraction of HBH-enabled routers in the network HBH outperforms application-layer multicast.     

A scheme for solving Anycast scalability in IPv6

The existing designs for providing Anycast services are either to confine Anycast groups to a preconfigured topological region or to distribute Anycast groups globally across the whole Internet. The latter causes routing tables to grow proportionally to the number of global Anycast groups in the entire Internet and both of the above designs restrict and hinder the application and development of Anycast services. A new kind of Anycast communication scheme is proposed in this paper. This scheme adopts a novel Anycast address structure which can achieve a dynamic Anycast group while allowing Anycast members to freely leave and join the Anycast group without geographical restriction and it effectively solves the expanding explosion of the Anycast routing table. In addition, this scheme can evenly disperse Anycast request messages from clients across the Anycast servers of one Anycast group, thus achieving load balance. This paper analyzes the communication scheme in depth and discusses its feasibility and validity. The experimental data in IPv6 simulation demonstrate that the TRT (Total Response Time) of one Anycast service (e.g., file downloading) acquired through this communication scheme is shorter by 15% than that through the existing Anycast communication scheme. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis and discussion of Anycast scalability in IPv6

The existing designs for providing Anycast services are either to confine Anycast groups to a preconfigured topological region or to globally distribute Anycast groups across the whole Internet. The latter causes the routing tables to grow proportionally to the number of global Anycast groups in the entire Internet and both of the above designs restrict and hinder the application and development of Anycast services. In this paper a new kind of Anycast communication model is proposed on the basis of Anycast tree technology. Since this model adopts a dynamic Anycast group, allowing Anycast members to freely leave and join the Anycast group, it radically solves the existing scalability problem. In addition, this model accomplishes the distributed maintenance and transaction of Anycast service requests and information on the Anycast tree; thus it performs load balance. This paper analyzes and discusses the feasibility and validity of the communication model; the experimental data in IPv6 simulation demonstrate that the total response time of one Anycast service (e.g., file downloading) acquired through this communication model is shorter by 15% than that through the current communication model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.