NLM: network-based layered multicast for traffic control of heterogeneous network

Layered multicast has been considered to be an efficient approach for coping with the network heterogeneity. Receiver-driven Layered Multicast (RLM) and its variants suggest that every receiver adjusts the reception level based on the packet loss rate. In this paper we propose a scheme called network-based layered multicast (NLM) scheme, which enhances the packet scoping mechanism employed in current multicast backbone (MBone). It makes use of the TTL bits and TOS bits in IP header, and packets are filtered in the routers using both the measured and predicted traffic condition. This allows the network quickly and efficiently adapts to the traffic condition. We evaluate and compare the scheme with the receiver-driven schemes using Network Simulator for a 33-node network topology with realistic bandwidths. The simulation reveals that the proposed NLM scheme substantially improves the stability and fairness of the RLM scheme for multicast sessions, while it displays comparable performance to the RLM with Priority (RLMP) scheme. For mixed type traffic of multicast and TCP sessions, it outperforms both the schemes.