A Multicast Routing Optimization Algorithm Based on Elite Mechanism

Due to the advent of many new multimedia applications in high-speed networks, the issue of multicast routing has become more and more important. The multicast routing problem in computer networks is also known as the Steiner tree problem which has been proved to be NP-complete. In this paper, we propose a new multicast routing model based on multiple objectives optimization, as well as a multiple objective evolutionary algorithm called E-MOEA. To apply this algorithm to real-world networks, we propose a method for reducing the computational complexity: using "elite library" mechanism and elimination of traditional "crossover" operator. Instead, a new mutation operator inspired by clone process is used. Computer simulations have been conducted on NSF-net to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Our experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of finding good solutions which balance tradeoff among multiple constraint objectives with the help of elite library and the mutation operator.