Fast, efficient, and robust multicast in wireless mesh networks

ABSTRACT

IEEE 802.11s mesh networks are extending the reach and speed of wireless networks, especially in the realm of public safety. For many applications (e.g. situational awareness and emulation of push-to-talk radio) multicast is an important network service. In the future, we expect to see even more multicast traffic in mesh networks, as more bandwidth intensive applications (e.g. video) become commonplace. In existing mesh networks, multicast is often slow, inefficient, and not particularly robust to packet loss. In this paper we describe, propose, and simulate a wide-range of mesh multicast algorithms to determine the most fast, efficient, and robust multicast algorithm. We examine the algorithms under a range of traffic loads and packet error rates. We find that even very simple mechanisms can dramatically improve multicast performance. We also find that complex robustness protocols can be very expensive and may significantly lower the congestion point.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

General Terms:
Performance

Keywords:
ad hoc networks, broadcast, ieee 802.11, mesh networks, multicast, wireless