Publication Abstract

Khazan, R. I., Lewandowski, S. M., Weinstein, C. J., Goulet, S. A., Rak, S. J., Ramanan, P., Parks, T. M., Hamler, M. C., Robust Collaborative Multicast Service for Airborne Command and Control Environment, MILCOM 2004, November 2004.

Abstract

RCM (Robust Collaborative Multicast) is a communication service designed to support collaborative applications operating in dynamic, mission-critical environments. RCM implements a set of well-specified message ordering and reliability properties that balance two conflicting goals: a) providing low-latency, highly available, reliable communication service, and b) guaranteeing global consistency in how different participants perceive their communication. Both of these goals are important for collaborative applications. In this paper, we describe RCM, its modular and flexible design, and a collection of simple, lightweight protocols that implement it. We also report on several experiments with an RCM prototype in a testbed environment.