Optimizing application level multicast trees over wireless networks

Widespread delivery of the same data content continues to be a challenging problem especially in a wireless network. For a network it is desirable to have more than one way to multicast data from source to destinations. Multicasting, especially with a tree structure, has been shown to be an effective methodology to distribute data. By using a multicast tree the source node is not burdened by trying to uni-cast data to each client. In a given multicast tree, the burden of data delivery is distributed among the participating client nodes. Multiple multicast trees provide the ability to use alternate multicast trees to distribute the data which improves the efficiency of data distribution. Multiple multicast trees are designed to manage the dynamic behavior of the clients where the target connectivity is constantly changing. We introduce a scheme which improves the current multiple multicast methodologies using a feedback mechanism to determine the most efficient multicast tree to reduce the overall time to distribute the data.