An Algorithm to Determine Multicast Meshes with Maximum Lifetime for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

We propose an algorithm called

OptMeshTrans

to determine a sequence of stable meshes that connect the source nodes and receiver nodes of a multicast session in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs).

OptMeshTrans

uses the following greedy strategy: Whenever a mesh connecting a set of source nodes to a set of receiver nodes is required, we choose the mesh, called the Stable-Static-Mesh, which exists for the longest time. In this pursuit, we determine a long-living minimum edge Steiner tree connecting the source nodes to the receiver nodes and the Stable-Static-Mesh is an extension of this Steiner tree by including in the mesh, all the edges that exist between the constituent nodes of the tree. When such a Stable-Static-Mesh gets disconnected, leading to the absence of a path from any source to any receiver node, we use the above greedy principle to construct another long-living mesh. The sequence of long-living Stable-Static-Meshes determined over the duration of the multicast session time is called a Stable-Mobile-Mesh. The lifetime of the meshes determined using algorithm

OptMeshTrans

forms the benchmark for maximum mesh lifetime in multicast routing. Simulation results indicate that the lifetime of the meshes determined using the classical mesh-based On-Demand Multicast Routing Protocol (ODMRP) is significantly lower than the optimal lifetime of the stable meshes determined using

OptMeshTrans

.