Performance of call splitting algorithms for multicast traffic

Multicast traffic encounters higher blocking probability than point-to-point traffic because of simultaneous output port contentions. To ensure adequate performance for multicast traffic, the authors develop and analyze a class of call scheduling algorithms via call splitting. Call splitting algorithms reduce output contention by generating smaller subcalls from a multicast call. It is shown that slot contention blocking is the predominant factor of blocking a multicast call, which suggests that call splitting may be an efficient strategy for a multicast call. The authors devise a deterministic call splitting algorithm and show that excessive call splitting can degrade performance because of the additional load introduced to the input ports. The authors also investigate an adaptive splitting algorithm which achieves performance approach the optimum by avoiding excessive call splitting.<<ETX>>