A Novel Multicast Algorithm for Collaborative Multimedia Applications in Heterogeneous Networks

In this paper, we study the problem of QoS group communication in a heterogeneous network, which consists of multiple MANETs attached to the backbone Internet. We propose a heuristic multicast algorithm called MCMA (Multi-Constrained Multicast Algorithm). MCMA is designed for solving the DVBMT (Delay-and delay Variation-Bounded Multicast Tree) problem, which has been proved to be NP-complete. The literature studies are limited to end-to-end delay bound and delay variation minimization. In this paper, we improve and extend previous well known from literature heterogeneous network algorithms to provide scalable and stable multicast services on the Internet by introducing a new Delay–Variation Estimation Scheme for heterogeneous networks. This Scheme helps the MCMA algorithm achieve better performance in terms of the multicast delay variation than some well-known algorithms. The algorithm defines QoS parameters as constraints on both delay and delay variation. Theoretical analysis is given to show the correctness of MCMA and its performance in terms of the multicast delay variation.