An Cross-Entropy Algorithm for multi-Constraints QoS Multicast Routing

Many applications in the network like multimedia transmission have strict demands for QoS, such as bandwidth, delay, packet loss rate, etc. Finding the multicast tree that satisfies those requirements is an NP-complete problem. Among the existing algorithms for multi-constraints QoS multicast are local search algorithms or centralized algorithms, which cannot guarantee the finding of global solutions in real network. In this paper, we propose an ant colony algorithm based on cross- entropy for multi-constraints QoS multicast routing. Simulation results in NS-2 environment indicate that this algorithm can quickly find the close-to-the-best solution.