Multicast Delivery Probability of MANETs with Limited Packet Redundancy

The available delivery probability studies for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) mainly considered unicast scenario, i.e., a source has only one destination, which cannot support future multicast-intensive applications in such networks. In this paper, we propose a general two-hop relay algorithm with cooperative probability p, packet lifetime t, packet redundancy f and multicast fanout g. In such an algorithm, source node can replicate a packet to at most f distinct relay nodes, which help to forward the packet to its g destination nodes before t expires. Specifically, the destination nodes may also forward the packet for each other with cooperative probability p. To study the multicast delivery probability in MANETs, we first develop a Markov chain model to characterize the packet delivery process under the routing algorithm, based on which an analytical expression is then derived for the delivery probability. Finally, simulation and numerical results are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the theoretical delivery probability analysis as well as our theoretical findings.