Mobile multicasting in wireless ATM networks

Multicasting is a desired function in both wired and wireless networks. Currently, multicasting-based applications have pervasive presence and influence in our Internet. Wireless ATM aims to support different traffic types over a high speed wireless network. In particular, traditional approaches towards multicasting in wired networks cannot be directly applied to mobile ATM networks. This includes the mechanism proposed to handle mobility in wired networks. In this paper, we address the issues behind multicasting in wireless ATM networks and the underlying mechanisms to support handoffs of both unicast and multicast connections. Through simulation, we evaluated the performance of optimal core-based tree (CBT), late-joined CBT, optimal source-based tree (SBT), and late-joined SBT during changing multicast host membership conditions. In addition, we evaluated the impact of multicast receivers’ migration on the total link cost of the resultant multicast tree. Simulation results revealed that source-based trees incur more total link costs under both dynamic host membership and receivers’ migration scenarios. However, it generates less control messages than the distributed CBT and SBT approaches.