Multicast Communication in Staircase Multichannel Networks

This paper addresses multicast communication in a family of multichannel networks with staircase topologies. Although the topologies are single-hop, in that every node can reach every other node in a single hop, several channels may be required in order to reach multiple destinations. The topologies are analyzed with respect to their ability to support multicast communication, and algorithms are proposed that determine the set of channels on which to send a multicast message in order to reach a particular set of destinations. The algorithms are provably optimal for the majority of topologies under consideration. Keywords: multichannel networks, bus-based topologies, multicast communication This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant. No. MIP-9204066, by an Ameritech Faculty Fellowship, by the Office of Naval Research under Grant No. N00014-86-K-0416, and by the Department of Defense-Research Initiative Program. 1 Introduction The term multi..