QoS Multicast Routing in Partially Mobile Wireless TDMA Networks

In this paper, we present a novel QoS (quality of service) multicast routing protocol (QMRP) for partially mobile wireless TDMA (time division multiple access) networks. This protocol has been inspired by the typical requirements of industrial networked control systems, i.e., systems exhibiting real-time behavior and therefore requiring predictable communication bandwidths and transfer delays. QMRP is capable of iteratively constructing routing trees, and of assigning time slots along the branches of these trees such that a specific communication bandwidth is guaranteed and delays can be predicted. Special attention is given to mobile nodes, which require specialized QoS routing trees. A detailed evaluation gives insights into the operation and performance of QMRP.