A Scalable Multicast Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Abstract

The multicasting technique supports a variety of applications that require data to be instantaneously trans- mitted to a set of destination nodes. In environments with continuously moving nodes, such as mobile ad-hoc networks, the search for e cient routes from sources to the projected destinations is a common issue. Proposed Windmill proto- col provides a scalable multicast solution for mobile ad-hoc networks. Windmill aims to improve routing protocol's per- formance by introducing a hierarchal distributed routing al- gorithm and dividing the area into zones. Additionally, it attempts to demonstrate better scalability, performance and robustness when faced with frequent topology changes, by utilizing restricted directional ooding. A detailed and ex- tensive simulated performance evaluation has been conducted to assess Windmill and compare it with multicast ad-hoc on- demand distance vector (MAODV) and on-demand multicast routing protocols (ODMRP). Simulation results show that the three protocols achieved high packet delivery rates in most sce- narios. Results also show that Windmill is capable of achiev- ing scalability by maintaining the minimum packet routing load, even upon increasing the nodes' speed, the number of sources, the number of group members and the size of the simulated network. The results also indicate that it o ers superior performance and is well suited for ad-hoc wireless networks with mobile hosts. The trade-o of using Windmill consists in slightly longer paths { a characteristic that makes it a good choice for applications that require simultaneous data transmission to a large set of nodes.