A Simulation Model for Hybrid Multicast

In order to achieve one-to-many data delivery on the internet, native multicast is used and implemented in some parts of the Internet. On the other hand, application layer multicast (ALM), which uses P2P overlays (overlay multicast, OM), can be used to create multicast trees and deliver the data at the application layer. Despite Native Multicast being more efficient than Application Layer Multicast, it is not deployed widely. A hybrid multicast protocol has been proposed that opportunistically combines overlay multicast protocols and native multicast protocols to create and maintain hybrid multicast trees. The design for hybrid multicast trees leverages the AMT multicast tunneling protocol. It is expected that this hybrid approach will improve both efficiency and availability of multicast. This paper presents a simulation model for the Oversim/Omnet++ simulation framework to evaluate the performance of the hybrid multicast approach. Our model combines both a scalable overlay and a detailed network layer model that includes routers with native multicast support.