We propose an application level multicast approach, Topology Aware Grouping (TAG), which exploits underlying network topology information to build efficient overlay networks among multicast group members. TAG uses information about path overlap among members to construct a tree that reduces the overlay relative delay penalty, and reduces the number of duplicate copies of a packet on the same link. We study the properties of TAG, and model and experiment with its economies of scale factor to quantify its benefits compared to unicast and IP multicast. We also compare the TAG approach with the ESM approach in a variety of simulation configurations including a number of real Internet topologies and generated topologies. Our results indicate the effectiveness of the algorithm in reducing delays and duplicate packets, with reasonable algorithm time and space complexities.
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