Network traffic properties of bimodal multicast protocol

Abstract

The popularity of large-scale distributed applications, such as videoconferencing, multimedia dissemination, electronic stock exchange and distributed cooperative work, has grown with the availability of high-speed networks and the expansion of the Internet. The key property of this type of applications is the need to distribute data among multiple participants together with an application-specific quality of service needs. This fact makes scalable multicast protocols an essential underlying communication structure. Although there exist several studies investigating the traffic characteristics of unicast communication, multicast traffic has not been examined extensively in previous studies. It is well known that the aggregate traffic properties of self-similarity and long-range dependence are ubiquitous in wide area networks and lead to adverse consequences in network performance. In this study, we analyze traffic characteristics of a novel scalable, reliable multicast protocol, Bimodal Multicast (Pbcast). In particular, our simulation studies demonstrate that epidemic approach of Bimodal Multicast generates short-range dependent traffic with low overhead traffic and transport delays. We elaborate on the protocol mechanisms as an underlying factor in our empirical results.