Motivation
Ad hoc networks: infrastructure-less, rapid
deployment
Many applications for ad hoc networks require one-
to-many and many-to-many communication
Multicast protocols are intended to efficiently support
such communication patterns
Multicasting well researched in fixed networks (i.e.,
the Internet), building efficient distribution structures
(typically a multicast tree)
Ad hoc networks: dynamic topology makes it harder
to maintain distribution structure with low overhead