A performance guaranteed distributed multicast algorithm for long-lived directional communications in WANETs

Abstract

We consider the lifetime optimization problem for multicasting in wireless ad hoc networks, in which each node is equipped with a directional antenna and has limited energy supplies. In this paper, we propose a new distributed algorithm, whose performance in terms of providing long-lived multicast tree is guaranteed by our theoretical analysis. We prove that its approximation ratio is bounded by a finite number. In particular, the derived upper bound in a closed form shows that the algorithm can achieve global optimal in some cases. The real performance of this new proposed algorithm is also evaluated using simulation studies and the experimental results show that it outperforms other distributed algorithms. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.