Wireless Multicast Support for the NS-2 Emulation Environment

The development of applications and protocols for future wireless communication systems requires powerful tools for testing and optimization in mobile ad-hoc networks. This especially holds true for applications that are based on relatively unreliable wireless multicast communication. In this paper we propose an extension to the ns-2 network simulator that allows for testing and optimization of real-world applications in a flexibly configurable emulation environment. This testbed supports wireless unicast and multicast routing mechanisms in parallel and thus gives real-world implementations a comprehensive and transparent access to a network that behaves like a mobile ad-hoc environment.