Multicast Planning for Mission-Critical Networks

In this paper, considering user vicinity information, maximum tolerable unwanted traffic, and routing overhead, we introduce a new two-stage multicast group planning technique which has many applications in tactical networks (TN) used in the future battlefield networks (FBN). We formally define channelization problem with respect to no false exclusion and minimum false inclusion requirements. We address: (i) selection of the number of multicast groups, (ii) adaptation of the mapping algorithms to the networks with different characteristics, and (Hi) reduction of the computational complexity of the mapping algorithms. Our approach results in scalable group configurations based on the availability of resources in the network. Simulation results show that it is cost-effective and generates multicast groups of smaller sizes, which are easier to maintain especially in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), than other greedy approaches for the same amount of unwanted traffic per user.