Enabling Efficient and Flexible Network-Layer Geocast Using Multidimensional Identifier

Geocast is an efficient network communication paradigm that enables the transmission of data packets to all receivers within a target area. Implementing geocast based on TCP/IP networks faces challenges, such as the complexity of IP address maintenance. Multidimensional identifier network architecture provides identifiers with rich multidimensional attributes at the network layer, which can also represent geographic areas, enabling efficient and flexible network-layer geocast implementation. This paper proposes a geocast mechanism based on multidimensional identifiers, designing identifiers with multidimensional attributes and packet forwarding logic in the data plane to enable packet parsing and processing. Additionally, relevant applications are designed in the control plane to implement geocast. Finally, a prototype system is built to validate the proposed design. The experiment results indicates the multidimensional identifier network framework facilitates an efficient and flexible geocast implementation.