Rendezvous point relocation in protocol independent multicast - sparse mode

Protocol independent multicast - sparse mode is the most widely used multicast routing architecture. It builds a shared distribution tree centered at a rendezvous point and then builds source-specific trees for those sources whose data rate warrants it. Current implementations of the protocol decide on the rendezvous point administratively, which leads to congestion and delays. An attractive solution would be dynamic relocation of the rendezvous point depending on the members of the multicast group. We present a rendezvous point calculation and relocation mechanism for protocol independent multicast -sparse mode. Simulation of the proposed mechanisms is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposals.