QoS-aware multicast routing protocol for ad hoc networks

Ad hoc wireless networks consist of mobile nodes interconnected by multihop communication paths. Unlike conventional wireless networks, ad hoc networks have no fixed network infrastructure or administrative support. Due to bandwidth constraint and dynamic topology of mobile ad hoc networks, supporting Quality of Service (QoS) is an inherently complex, difficult issue and very important research issue. MAODV (Multicast Ad hoc Ondemand Distance Vector) routing protocol provides fast and efficient route establishment between mobile nodes that need to communicate with each other. MAODV has minimal control overhead and route acquisition latency. In addition to unicast routing, MAODV supports multicast and broadcast as well. The multicast routing problem with multiple QoS constraints, which may deal with the delay, bandwidth and packet loss measurements is discussed, and a network model for researching the ad hoc network QoS multicast routing problem is described. It presents a complete solution for QoS multicast routing based on an extension of the MAODV routing protocol that deals with delay, bandwidth and packet loss measurements. The solution is based on lower layer specifics. Simulation results show that, with the proposed QoS multicast routing protocol, end-to-end delay, bandwidth and packet loss on a route can be improved in most of cases. It is an available approach to multicast routing decision with multiple QoS constraints.