A novel gossip-based multirate overlay multicast strategy

Overlay multicast is an efficient communication scheme for multipoint communication applications. This paper focuses on the transmission isolation and unbalanced load allocation problems of multi-rate multimedia transmission over embedded overlay topology where multicast receivers in the same session request service at different rates commensurate with their requirements. We propose a novel data distribution scheme by adopting gossip algorithm to overcome the transmission isolation problem via implementing cross-layer data transmission. More leaf members are involved in the data distribution process to share load stress for cluster leaders leading to more balanced data distribution structure. Simulation results show that gossip-based protocol, without transmission isolation, can reasonably build and maintain a more balanced overlay topology than the traditional multicast protocol.