Multicasting in Mobile Wireless (Ad Hoc) Networks

While mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) technology continues to mature, a fundamental limitation of these systems is an inability to route multicast messages while also constraining the direction in which signals are transmitted. Directional MANETs are of great interest to the network planner, but a multicast functionality has yet to be reported. We present a method for implementing robust, efficient multicasting in a directional MANET using a modified distributed TDMA MAC and multicast OLSR. Physical layer elements are proposed to allow multiple, simultaneous transmissions of a multicast message while maintaining LPI and AJ operating conditions. Design goals include improvements in multicast performance, multicast tree formation and reliable multicast for AJ and LPI scenarios. We combine existing technology in both directional networking and omnidirectional, but multicast-enabled, MANETs with innovative cross-layer protocol elements to implement multicasting for directional ad hoc networks (M-DAN).