Localized operations for distributed Minimum Energy Multicast algorithm in mobile ad hoc networks

To explore the advantages of power saving offered by the wireless multicast advantage property, we consider the case of source-initiated multicast traffic. Current research activity for the Minimum Energy Multicast (MEM) problem has been focused on devising efficient centralized greedy algorithms for static ad hoc networks. In this paper, we consider mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) that use omnidirectional antennas and have limited energy resources. We propose the design and initial evaluation of the Distributed Minimum Energy Multicast (DMEM) algorithm for MANETs that attempts to reduce as much as possible the total RF energy required by the multicast communication. Several localized operations are presented for the DMEM algorithm, in which each node requires only the knowledge of and distances to all neighboring tree nodes. Through extensive simulation studies, we show that these operations are very efficient both in terms of energy saving and operation overhead.