Sector Based Multicast Routing Algorithm for Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

Multicast routing algorithms for mobile ad-hoc networks have been extensively researched in the recent past. In this paper, we present two algorithms for dealing with multicast routing problem using the notion of virtual forces. We look at the effective force exerted on a packet and determine whether a node could be considered as a Steiner node. The nodes' location information is used to generate virtual circuits corresponding to the multicast route. QoS parameters are taken into consideration in the form of virtual dampening force. The first algorithm produces relatively minimal multicast trees under the set of constraints. We improve upon the first algorithm and present a second algorithm that provides improvement in average residual energy in the network as well as effective cost per data packet transmitted. In this paper, the virtual-force technique has been applied for multicast routing for the first time in mobile ad-hoc networks.