An application layer multicast routing algorithm based on genetic algorithms

The application layer multicast routing problem is a multi-objective optimization problem. Most existing protocols are based on simple geographical rules and focus on either tree cost or application load balance performance. Little attention is pay to the lower level performance. The paper analyzes the constraints on multicast routing, then formalizes three functions to evaluate an application layer multicast tree on three indexes, cost, application layer load balance and network layer load balance, then generates one fitness function to describe the tree´s overall performance. Then the paper proposes the ALMR-GA algorithm, a novel application layer multicast routing approach based on genetic algorithms. Numerical simulations show that, compared with existing routing algorithms, the proposed algorithm reduces the tree´s cost while satisfying the load balance constraints