Delay-Aware Multi-Source Multicast Resource Optimization in NFV-Enabled Network.

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a transformation of traditional proprietary network designs to a more agile and software based environment. NFV architecture is considered as a key enabler for 5G as it offers the flexible deployment, reduced setup costs and less-time-to-market for the new services. Current studies on NFV in unicast transmission case can not be extended to multicast. Owing to the recent popularity and growing interest for live video streaming applications, efficient multicast solutions in NFV-enabled networks are needed. In this paper, we propose an NFV multicast resource optimization model as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) exploiting the use of multiple sources and considering the end-to-end delay and bandwidth requirements along with two heuristics algorithms. We evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms on different network topologies. Simulation results prove that the proposed algorithms outperform the existing solution in terms of reduced bandwidth consumption and the delay values.