Adaptive Multicast on Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Using Tree-Based Meshes With Variable Density of Redundant Paths

Multicasting has been extensively studied for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) because it is fundamental to many ad hoc network applications requiring close collaboration of multiple nodes in a group. A general approach is to construct an overlay structure such as multicast tree or mesh and to deliver a multicast packet to multiple receivers over the overlay structure. However, it either incurs a lot of overhead (multicast mesh) or performs poorly in terms of delivery ratio (multicast tree). This paper proposes an adaptive multicast scheme, called tree-based mesh with k-hop redundant paths (TBM k ), which constructs a multicast tree and adds some additional links/nodes to the multicast structure as needed to support redundancy. It is designed to make a prudent tradeoff between the overhead and the delivery efficiency by adaptively controlling the path redundancy depending on network traffic and mobility. In other words, when the network is unstable with high traffic and high mobility, a large k is chosen to provide more robust delivery of multicast packets. On the other hand, when the network traffic and the mobility are low, a small k is chosen to reduce the overhead. It is observed via simulation that TBM k improves the packet delivery ratio as much as 35% compared to the multicast tree approach. On the other hand, it reduces control overhead by 23–87% depending on the value of k compared to the multicast mesh approach. In general, TBM k with the small value of k offers more robust delivery mechanism but demands less overhead than multicast trees and multicast meshes, respectively

Adaptive Multicast on Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Using Tree-Based Meshes With Variable Density of Redundant Paths

Multicasting has been extensively studied for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) because it is fundamental to many ad hoc network applications requiring close collaboration of multiple nodes in a group. A general approach is to construct an overlay structure such as multicast tree or mesh and to deliver a multicast packet to multiple receivers over the overlay structure. However, it either incurs a lot of overhead (multicast mesh) or performs poorly in terms of delivery ratio (multicast tree). This paper proposes an adaptive multicast scheme, called tree-based mesh with k-hop redundant paths (TBM k ), which constructs a multicast tree and adds some additional links/nodes to the multicast structure as needed to support redundancy. It is designed to make a prudent tradeoff between the overhead and the delivery efficiency by adaptively controlling the path redundancy depending on network traffic and mobility. In other words, when the network is unstable with high traffic and high mobility, a large k is chosen to provide more robust delivery of multicast packets. On the other hand, when the network traffic and the mobility are low, a small k is chosen to reduce the overhead. It is observed via simulation that TBM k improves the packet delivery ratio as much as 35% compared to the multicast tree approach. On the other hand, it reduces control overhead by 23–87% depending on the value of k compared to the multicast mesh approach. In general, TBM k with the small value of k offers more robust delivery mechanism but demands less overhead than multicast trees and multicast meshes, respectively

Reliable Multicast in Mobile Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

A mobile wireless ad hoc network (MANET) consists of a group of mobile nodes communicating wirelessly with no fixed infrastructure. Each node acts as source or receiver, and all play a role in path discovery and packet routing. MANETs are growing in popularity due to multiple usage models, ease of deployment and recent advances in hardware with which to implement them. MANETs are a natural environment for multicasting, or group communication, where one source transmits data packets through the network to multiple receivers. Proposed applications for MANET group communication ranges from personal network apps, impromptu small scale business meetings and gatherings, to conference, academic or sports complex presentations for large crowds reflect the wide range of conditions such a protocol must handle. Other applications such as covert military operations, search and rescue, disaster recovery and emergency response operations reflect the mission critical nature of many ad hoc applications. Reliable data delivery is important for all categories, but vital for this last one. It is a feature that a MANET group communication protocol must provide. Routing protocols for MANETs are challenged with establishing and maintaining data routes through the network in the face of mobility, bandwidth constraints and power limitations. Multicast communication presents additional challenges to protocols. In this dissertation we study reliability in multicast MANET routing protocols. Several on-demand multicast protocols are discussed and their performance compared. Then a new reliability protocol, R-ODMRP is presented that runs on top of ODMRP, a well documented best effort protocol with high reliability. This protocol is evaluated against ODMRP in a standard network simulator, ns-2. Next, reliable multicast MANET protocols are discussed and compared. We then present a second new protocol, Reyes, also a reliable on-demand multicast communication protocol. Reyes is implemented in the ns-2 simulator and compared against the current standards for reliability, flooding and ODMRP. R-ODMRP is used as a comparison point as well. Performance results are comprehensively described for latency, bandwidth and reliable data delivery. The simulations show Reyes to greatly outperform the other protocols in terms of reliability, while also outperforming R-ODMRP in terms of latency and bandwidth overhead

Mobility-adaptive clustering and network-layer multicasting in mobile ad hoc networks

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Multicast Routing Algorithms and Failure Analyses for Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communication Networks

In the rapidly changing environment of mobile communications, the importance of the mobile satellite (e,g,, low earth orbit satellites (LEOsats)) networks will increase due to their global visibility and connection. Multicasting is an effective communication method in terms of frequency spectrum usage for a LEO network. It is devised to provide lower network traffic (i,e,, one-to-many transmissions). This research examines the system performance of two dissimilar terrestrially-based multicasting protocols: the Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) and the On Demand Multicast Routing Protocol (ODMRP). These two protocols are simulated in large group membership density and in the presence of satellite failures. Two different algorithms are developed and used to select critical satellites for degrading a LEO network constellation. The simulation results show that the ODMRP protocol successfully reconfigured routes in large group membership density areas and in satellite failure conditions. Results also show that the ODMRP provided reliable packet delivery. However, ODMRP showed an enormous end-to-end delay in severe satellite failure conditions. This result is attributable to the delayed route refreshing procedure of ODMRP. In contrast, the DVMRP suffered from broken routes and complexity in the large group membership density and in satellite failure conditions. It had a smaller packet delivery ratio than the ODMRP (approximately 85,5% versus 98,9% for the 80 user case). The DVMRP showed scalable and stable end-to-end delay under multiple failed satellite conditions. The large group membership density and the multiple satellite failure conditions provide a more complete assessment for these two protocols

Supporting Protocols for Structuring and Intelligent Information Dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

The goal of this dissertation is the presentation of supporting protocols for structuring and intelligent data dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The protocols are intended to first introduce a structure in VANETs, and thus promote the spatial reuse of network resources. Segmenting a flat VANET in multiple cluster structures allows for more efficient use of the available bandwidth, which can effectively increase the capacity of the network. The cluster structures can also improve the scalability of the underlying communication protocols. The structuring and maintenance of the network introduces additional overhead. The aim is to provide a mechanism for creating stable cluster structures in VANETs, and to minimize this associated overhead. Further a hybrid overlay-based geocast protocol for VANETs is presented. The protocol utilizes a backbone overlay virtual infrastructure on top of the physical network to provide geocast support, which is crucial for intervehicle communications since many applications provide group-oriented and location-oriented services. The final contribution is a structureless information dissemination scheme which creates a layered view of road conditions with a diminishing resolution as the viewing distance increases. Namely, the scheme first provides a high-detail local view of a given vehicle\u27s neighbors and its immediate neighbors, which is further extended when information dissemination is employed. Each vehicle gets aggregated information for road conditions beyond this extended local view. The scheme allows for the preservation of unique reports within aggregated frames, such that safety critical notifications are kept in high detail, all for the benefit of the driver\u27s improved decision making during emergency scenarios

Multicast for ubiquitos streaming of multimedia content to mobile terminals : Network architecture and protocols

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication Services (UMTS) network was envisioned to carry a wide range of new services; however, the first UMTS release was not designed to efficiently support multimedia content. In this thesis we analyse several mechanisms, and suggest architectural changes to improve UMTS’s capacity for a subset of the multimedia services; high-bandwidth group services. In our initial work we have suggested how IP multicast protocols can be used in the UMTS network to reduce the required network capacity for group services. This proposal was one of many suggestions for the evolving Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) architecture for UMTS. The next technique we have suggested and analysed is a new wireless channel type named the "sticky-channel"; this channel is intended for sparsely populated multicast groups. The sticky-channel is able to stick to mobile multicast members in the boarder area of neighbouring radio cells, thus some base stations does not need to broadcast the multicast data. Consequently, the total number of broadcast channels needed to cover a given area is reduced. There is a marginal reduction of required resources with this technique. In the main part of our work we have studied heterogeneous multihop wireless access for multicast traffic in the UMTS network. In a heterogeneous wireless access network, the wireless resources needed to distribute high-bandwidth group services, can be shared among cooperating network technologies. Mobile terminals with a UMTS interface and an IEEE 802.11 interface are readily available, consequently a heterogeneous network with UMTS and 802.11 links will be easy to deploy. We have described a heterogeneous architecture based on those wireless technologies. In this architecture, the range of a UMTS radio channel is reduced, and local IEEE 802.11-based Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) forward the data to users located outside the coverage of the reduced UMTS channel. The wireless resources required to transmit a data packet are proportional to (at least) the square of the distance the packet must travel, thus a reduction in the channel range releases a significant amount of UMTS radio resources. Detailed simulation results showed acceptable service quality when the UMTS broadcast channel range is more than halved. Finally we have studied whether Forward Error Correction (FEC) at the packet-level on multicast flows could improve the performance of the heterogeneous wireless access network. There is a marginal improvement. Most of the protection brought by the FEC code has been used to repair the increased packet-loss introduced by the FEC overhead

RoMR: Robust Multicast Routing in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Support for multicast services is crucial for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) to become a viable alternative to infrastructured networks. Efficient multicasting in MANETs faces challenges not encountered in other types of networks such as the mobility of nodes, the tenuous status of communication links, limited resources, and indefinite knowledge of the network topology. This thesis addresses these challenges by providing a framework and architecture with proactive and reactive components to support multicasting in MANETs emphasizing reliability and efficiency of end-to-end packet delivery. The architecture includes the Robust Multicast Routing protocol (RoMR) to provide multicast services to multicast applications. RoMR's proactive component calculates multiple multicast trees based on the prediction of future availability of the links and the assumption that the trees will become disconnected over time. The reactive components respond to changes in the network topology due to the mobility of the nodes and to changes in the multicast group's membership. Sending redundant data packets over multiple paths further enhances the reliability at the cost of an increase in the use of network resources. RoMR uses approximations to Steiner trees during tree formation and forward error correction encoding techniques during packet transmission in order to counteract this increase. To avoid additional network traffic, trees are distributed only when the existing trees cannot be easily patched to accommodate changes in topology or group membership. The novelty of the proposed protocol stems from integrating techniques that have not previously been combined into a multicasting protocol and a unique method to calculate the relative weights of the links. In addition to the specifications of the protocol, a simulation framework was developed to test different implementations of the various components of RoMR. Simulations compared the performance of the basic version of RoMR to a version that ignored link weights, and to a link-state multicast protocol currently being considered by the Internet Engineering Task Force. A statistical analysis of the results showed that RoMR performed better overall, than the other two protocols

Power-efficient multicasting algorithms for wireless ad hoc networks

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Improving broadcast performance in multi-radio multi-channel multi-rate wireless mesh networks.

This thesis addresses the problem of `efficient' broadcast in a multi-radio multi-channel multi-rate wireless mesh network (MR$^2$-MC WMN). In such a MR$^2$-MC WMN, nodes are equipped with multiple radio network interface cards, each tuned to an orthogonal channel, that can dynamically adjust transmission rate by choosing a modulation scheme appropriate for the channel conditions. We choose `broadcast latency', defined as the maximum delay between a packet's network-wide broadcast at the source and its eventual reception at all network nodes, as the `efficiency' metric of broadcast performance. The problem of constructing a broadcast forwarding structure having minimal broadcast latency is referred to as the `minimum-latency-broadcasting' (MLB) problem. While previous research for broadcast in single-radio single-rate wireless networks has highlighted the wireless medium's `\emph{wireless broadcast advantage}' (WBA); little is known regarding how the new features of MR$^2$-MC WMN may be exploited. We study in this thesis how the availability of multiple radio interfaces (tuned to orthogonal channels) at WMN nodes, and WMN's multi-rate transmission capability and WBA, might be exploited to improve the `broadcast latency' performance. We show the MLB problem for MR$^2$-MC WMN to be NP-hard, and resort to heuristics for its solution. We divide the overall problem into two sub-problems, which we address in two separate parts of this thesis. \emph{In the first part of this thesis}, the MLB problem is defined for the case of single-radio single-channel multi-rate WMNs where WMN nodes are equipped with a single radio tuned to a common channel. \emph{In the second part of this thesis}, the MLB problem is defined for MR$^2$-MC WMNs where WMN nodes are equipped with multiple radios tuned to multiple orthogonal channels. We demonstrate that broadcasting in multi-rate WMNs is significantly different to broadcasting in single-rate WMNs, and that broadcast performance in multi-rate WMNs can be significantly improved by exploiting the availability of multi-rate feature and multiple interfaces. We also present two alternative MLB broadcast frameworks and specific algorithms, centralized and distributed, for each framework that can exploit multiple interfaces at a WMN node, and the multi-rate feature and WBA of MR$^2$-MC WMN to return improved `broadcast latency' performance