A Simulation Analysis of Multicasting in Delay Tolerant Networks

Delay tolerant networks (DTNs) are a class of systems that experience frequent and long-duration partitions. As in all distributed systems, DTN multicasting is a desirable feature for applications where some form of group communication is needed. The topological impairments experienced within a DTN pose unique challenges for designing effective DTN multicasting protocols. In this paper, we examine multicasting in DTNs. Unlike earlier work we assume no knowledge of node connectivity or mobility patterns. We propose the use of both single-copy and multi-copy routing DTN routing algorithms. We also explore the use of gossiping and core nodes in DTNs to decrease the number of redundant messages while maintaining high message delivery ratios. We have performed extensive evaluations of our proposed methods. Our results show that with careful protocol parameter selection it is possible to achieve high delivery rates for various system scenarios