A performance comparison of self-organising application layer multicast overlay construction techniques

Application layer multicast (ALM) uses overlays built on top of existing network infrastructure for rapid deployment of multicast applications. Key to the efficiency of this technique is the structure of the overlay tree used. This work reviews and compares various self-organising techniques that strive to build low cost, and low delay trees using extensive simulations. Protocols investigated include HMTP, HostCast, switch-trees, DCMALTP, NICE, TBCP and Narada which encompass a wide spectrum of overlay construction, optimisation and maintenance techniques. The protocols are evaluated based on their ability to achieve their objectives, overlay path penalties, protocol convergence and overhead. We also conduct detailed analysis of two main components in building an overlay: initial construction and the overhead of periodical improvement. Based on the observed results, we identify strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, and provide suggestions for future work on ALM overlay optimisation.