Algorithms for Energy-Efficient Multicasting in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

In this paper we address the problem of multicasting in military ad hoc networks from the viewpoint of energy efficiency. We discuss the impact of the wireless medium on the multicasting problem and the fundamental trade-offs that arise, and we propose and evaluate several algorithms for defining multicast trees when transceiver resources are limited. The algorithms select the relay nodes and their transmission power levels, and provide different degrees of scalability and performance. We show that the incorporation of energy considerations into multicast algorithms can improve performance.