Multi-objective optimization scheme for dynamic multicast groups

In this paper, we propose a multi-objective traffic engineering scheme using different distribution trees to dynamic multicast groups (in which egress nodes can change during the connection's lifetime). If a multicast tree is recomputed from scratch, it may consume a considerable amount of CPU time and all communication using the multicast tree will be temporarily interrupted. To alleviate these drawbacks we propose a dynamic optimization model that makes use of a previously computed multicast tree (static model) in order to add new egress nodes. Using these two models, our aim is to combine into a single aggregated metric, the following weighting objectives: maximum link utilization, hop count, total bandwidth consumption and total end-to-end delay. Moreover, our proposal solves the traffic split ratio for multiple trees. We compare the dynamic and static multicast routing models using SNOPT solver. The proposed approach can be applied in MPLS networks by allowing explicit routes to be established in multicast events.