Multicast applications, including audio and video, are expected to consume a large fraction of resources in forthcoming high speed networks. Because of this, new services are needed to provide the quality of service (QoS) required by these applications. In this paper we take a step in this direction by presenting a general framework for admission control and resource reservation for multicast sessions. Within this framework, efficient and practical algorithms that aim to efficiently utilize network resources are developed. The problem of admission control is decomposed into several subproblems that include: the division of end-to-end QoS requirements into local QoS requirements, the mapping of local QoS requirements into resource allocation, and the optimization of the resulting resource allocation for a multicast session. These are solved independently of each other yielding a set of mechanisms and policies that can be used to provide admission control and resource reservation for mul...

We propose a combined multicast routing and resource reservation protocol, termed Reservation-Based Multicast (RBM), that performs routing in a fashion similar to Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), but which is intended for mobile operation and routes hierarchically-encoded data streams based on user-specified fidelity requirements, real-time delivery thresholds and prevailing network bandwidth constraints. The protocol retains the fully distributed operation, scalability and receiver-initiated orientation of PIM; but, unlike PIM, the protocol is tightly coupled to an underlying, distributed, unicast routing protocol thereby facilitating operation in a dynamic topology. This paper focuses on the initial route construction phase, assumed to occur during a static "snapshot" of the dynamic topology, and is therefore applicable to fixed networks as well, e.g. the Internet. A forthcoming paper will detail the protocol's robustness and adaptivity to arbitrary topological changes during bot...

Many new distributed multimedia applications involve dynamic multiple participants, have stringent end-to-end delay requirement and consume large amount of network resources. In this paper, we propose a distributed delay-constrained dynamic multicast routing algorithm (DCDMR) to support these applications. DCDMR scales well because the source of the multicast tree needs only limited computation or may even not be involved in the route computation. When group membership changes, the existing multicast tree is perturbed as little as possible and the average resulting tree cost is very satisfactory. 1 Introduction Many new distributed real-time applications of computer networks such as distance education and videoconferencing involve multiple participants, have stringent end-to-end delay requirement and consume large amount of network resources. In order to support these new applications efficiently, multicast routing algorithms computing least cost multicast trees that satisfy a given e...

Scalability is a critical metric when evaluating the design of any distributed system. In this paper we examine Suite 2 of the Tenet Network Protocols, which supports real-time guarantees for multi-party communication over packet switched networks. In particular, we evaluate the scalability of both the system design and the prototype implementation of the signaling protocol, RCAP2. The scalability of the design is analyzed on several levels. It is analyzed with regard to its support for large internetworks, many multi-party connections, and a large number of receivers in a single connection. In addition, the prototype implementation is examined to see where decisions have been made that reduce the scalability of the initial system design. We propose implementation alternatives that are more scalable. Finally, we evaluate the scalability of system design in comparison to those of the ST-II signaling protocol (SCMP) and of RSVP. Keywords: scaling, multicast connection, multimedia networ...

this article, the multicast infrastructure is emphasized and only CBT and PIM are examined.

In this paper, we present a protocol for providing reliable multicast message delivery in wireless networks. Our protocol efficiently tracks message delivery and allows for reliable message delivery in an environment where the mobile multicast group experiences frequent adds and drops. Furthermore, our protocol allows group changes and message tracking to be handled locally, which translates to shorter breaks in service as mobile users move from cell to cell. RelM is implemented on top of reliable multicast IP protocols developed for high-speed networks and thus allows multicast groups to contain both, fixed and mobile users.

This masters thesis is the result of the last part of the program for