Simulation, modeling, and evaluation of satellite-based multicasting protocols

Satellite-based mobile multicasting is a largely unexplored and untested area of networking. This paper examines the performance associated with applying distance vector multicast routing protocol (DVMRP) and on demand multicast routing protocol (ODMRP) to a six plane, 66-satellite low Earth orbit satellite (LEOs) constellation. ODMRP provides high quality-of-service performance at the expense of bandwidth efficiency. In contrast, DVMRP is over twice as efficient, with only a 10% lower quality-of-service. Both protocols are stressed under a single satellite failure. For DVMRP, this leads to greater end-to-end delay and slightly higher efficiency. ODMRP shows no significant change from the non-failure case.