Implementing Multicast Routing in a Simulation Environment Using Java

Abstract

With recent advancements in technology, the old and traditional methods of communication have been replaced by new and more efficient ways of communication. Traditional ways of communication in the past were not as efficient as multicasting. Applications such as video-conferencing and audio-conferencing have led to new ways of efficient communication. Previous systems in this domain such as “PIM-SM” provide a visual demonstration of multicast routing algorithms but it only demonstrates algorithms such as ‘Flooding’, ‘Reverse Path Broadcasting’ and ‘Protocol Independent Multicasting’ which are now considered obsolete and inefficient. These algorithms send packets to all the nodes whether they are group members of the multicast group or not. In this system designed at NIIT, Reverse Path Multicasting has been implemented which is the most efficient and up-to-date algorithm for multicast routing. It sends the multicast transmission to only the interested nodes. The basic theme of the project revolves around multicast routing in general and Reverse Path Multicasting in particular. The system’s main objective is to provide a simulation environment where the user may learn how Reverse Path Multicasting works in various topologies. Once the user designs a network topology, he/she may choose to view the simulation of multicast routing. It also includes a shortest path algorithm which helps select the shortest path for each (sender, receiver) pair before sending the transmission.