Development Of an Adaptable Multicast Overlay Network

• Main Author: Sampaio, André Filipe da Silva
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2017
• Subjects: Civil engineering; Collaboration; Communication; Cooperation; Economics; Engineering; Graph representations; Infrastructure; Internet Protocol; Internet service providers; Traffic control; Transportation; Usability
• ISBN: 9798480681314

Multicast is a group communication paradigm created in order to reduce, as much as possible, the amount of data generated to the network. However, limited deployment of IP Multicast protocols has motivated an interest in alternative approaches which implement a similar process of Multicast at an application-level (using solely end-systems and not the routers). In this context, different methodologies are presented, entitled Application-Layer Multicast or Overlay Multicast, which may vary in the way they operate.This dissertation’s objective is to develop and experiment a prototype of an overlay multicast system. This system should be easily configurable and adaptable in order to assume different strategies when establishing the multicast distribution tree. It is also expected to explore and integrate collaborative mechanisms between the overlay network and the Internet Service Providers (ISP).With the presented context, the first step to take is an investigation on the state of the art, where technologies relevant to this work will be presented. After this initial step, the developed system’s architecture will be described, one which enables different ways of building and maintaining the multicast distribution tree. The envisioned system can operate independently, integrating mechanisms where the distribution tree relies solely on peer decisions, which will be firstly addressed. Then, this work will move on to collaborative mechanisms between the overlay’s management (the central node) and the Internet Service Providers. Based on the proposed system architecture, several mechanisms are explored, not only focusing on alternative ways to build distribution trees, but also mechanisms allowing for some traffic engineering objectives involving the Internet Service Providers. Using the CORE network emulator, all the proposed mechanisms are tested, and results are analyzed to corroborate the system’s correct operation.