A multicast routing algorithm based on mobile multicast agents in Ad-hoc networks

In this paper we describe a multicast routing algorithm, which builds upon mobile multicast agents of an ad-hoc network. Mobile multicast agents (MMAs ) form a virtual backbone of an ad-hoc network and they provide multicast t ree discovery, multicast tree maintenance and datagram delivery. First, we construct a cluster-spine hierarchy structure for an ad-hoc network. Second . we propose a multicast routing algorithm, which is inspired by Ad-hoc On- Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol. The results show that the M MA multicast algorithm can simplify the multicast tree discovery, reduce co ntrol overhead of the network, and increase the total network throughput, i n comparison with general AODV multicast operation. We also overcome the de ficiency of CBRP multicast routing, which places much burden on cluster hea ds.