On the construction of heterogeneous multicast distribution trees using filtering in an active network

Abstract

We propose a heuristic algorithm for the construction of a heterogeneous multicast distribution tree used for video transmission that satisfies different QoS requests. Our approach assumes an active network where active nodes can filter the video stream. By appropriately choosing the active nodes at which filtering is performed, the proposed algorithm constructs the multicast tree where, for example, the total required bandwidth is minimized. We assume existing multicast routing algorithms to form multicast groups, and the resulting distribution tree is a hierarchical arrangement of those groups. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm and compare it against two other approaches: simulcast and layered encoded transmission. Results show that we can get advantages when network nodes participate in the construction of the heterogenous multicast distribution tree, such as the possibility to set up a larger number of simultaneous multicast sessions.