Sharing the Cost of Multicast Transmissions in Wireless Networks

In this paper we consider the problem of sharing the costs of multicast transmissions in ad hoc wireless networks. Assuming that the receiving users are selfish, we provide strategyproof mechanisms that are either optimally budget balanced or efficient for the case in which the distance-power gradient α = 1 or the stations belong to a one-dimensional Euclidean space. Then, by extending to multicasting previous results on wireless broadcasting, we show the existence of efficiently computable 2(3d − 1)-approximate budget balance mechanisms in any d-dimensional space for every α ≥ d.