Tree-based reliable and energy-aware multicast routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) can be used for applications which need to be quickly launched and set up. One of the most notable challenges in these networks is reliable and energy-efficient routing protocol. Since mobile nodes in MANET have limited resources, an efficient and reliable multicast routing protocol is needed to reduce the wastage of resources. In this paper, a reliable and energy-aware multicast ad hoc on demand distance vector (REA-MAODV) routing protocol is proposed which is based on MAODV (multicast ad hoc on demand distance vector) protocol. The proposed scheme achieves enhanced performance over ODMRP and finds energy-efficient multicast routes from source node to a group of destination nodes. The proposed REA-MAODV multicast routing protocol not only can update high-consumption and shorter tree branches but also can produce a multicast tree with supporting branches. For improving MAODV protocol, we used three phases: (1) selecting high-energy consumption path, (2) selecting process and adding supporting branches, and (3) maintaining mechanism of multicast tree. The simulation results in NS-2 indicated that REA-MAODV, on average, consumed 45% less energy than MAODV and it has more balance in energy consumption. Moreover, the proposed REA-MAODV protocol was able to enhance packet delivery rate (19%), and it also managed to reduce end-to-end delay in network (21%).