A connectionless multicast protocol for MANETs

In this paper, the connectionless multicast routing MCOM (Multipoint relay Connectionless Multicast) is introduced for mobile Ad hoc networks. MCOM adapts over a wide ranges of density of group members. It appears as unicast with few receivers and as flooding protocol, similar to Simplified Multicast Forwarding (SMF), with many receivers. MCOM utilizes the forwarding structure Multipoint relay (MPR) of the proactive unicast routing protocols as duplication points. In MCOM, addresses of MPRs are included in data packets instead of addresses of receivers as in the traditional connectionless multicast protocol Xcast. After receiving multicast packets from source, specific MPRs use SMF to deliver the packets to receivers. Two simulators NS-2 and nsclick were used to evaluate performance of protocols. The results from our studies demonstrate that MCOM is an efficient multicast protocols over a wide range of scenarios.