An Overlay Multicast to Minimize End-to-end Delay in IP Networks

An end-to-end delay problem in overlay networks is considered for multicast service. When members frequently join and leave their multicast group, it is necessary to periodically optimize the route in the overlay network and to minimize the maximum end-to-end delay. For that purpose overlay multicast tree is investigated with processing capability constraint at each member node. The problem is formulated as a degree-bounded minimum spanning tree, which is known to be NP-hard. A tabu search heuristic is developed based on reconnection and swap moves. Frequency based diversification strategy is also adopted to improve solutions by intensification. Outstanding experimental results are obtained which is comparable to the optimal solution and applicable in real time. The proposed overlay multicast can be easily deployed on top of a densely connected IP network and take place of traditional IP based multicast which is not widely deployed due to the complex nature of its technology.