Performance evaluation of multicasting in MANET using node transition probability based routing algorithm

The central challenge in the design of ad-hoc networks is the development of a dynamic routing protocol that finds routes between mobile nodes. There are two types of data disseminations in a network, namely unicasting and multicasting. In this paper, we deal with multicasting, which is one-to-many data dissemination. Many multicast algorithms have already been proposed, but the major drawback with these algorithms is the excessive control overhead associated with them. Here, we present a new multicast algorithm, called Node Transition Probability based Multicast Routing (NTPMR) for mobile ad hoc networks, which presents the lowest control overhead when compared with the existing multicast protocols like ODMRP, CAMP and MAODV. The performance of this algorithm is evaluated in terms of quantitative metrics such as control overhead and packet delivery ratio for various scenarios and also for various mobility models.