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I'm a bit confused about the new Wi-Fi Direct feature in Android ICS. Is it possible to create a P2P group with multiple devices, and send multicast packets from a source peer to the other peers?
Unfortunately, I don't have any devices that are Wi-Fi Direct enabled, so I can only browse the examples that I find online. In these examples, I could only find peers establishing 1-on-1 connections. So, is multicasting possible?
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Multicast has brought a lot of efficiencies to IP networks. But multicast wasn't designed for wireless, and especially isn't well suited for high-bandwidth multicast applications like video.
Multicast transmission is a one-to-many broadcast methodology in which a WLAN AP forwards all broadcast packets from a multicast server source to a client subnet where multiple client devices are listening. The multicast server sends out a single stream during the transmission, allowing multiple clients to listen in.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi#Range says: a range of 35 m (115 ft) indoors and 100 m (330 ft) outdoors.
Using Wi-Fi Direct on Android devices to share files is an excellent alternative to Bluetooth, which has smaller range capabilities and slower transfer speeds. With the ability to connect two or more phones or tablets, Wi-Fi Direct eliminates the need for an internet connection.
Is it possible to create a p2p group with multiple devices ?
Based on the Industry white paper and the technical specs, yes it is possible to create a group with multiple devices, you will have a one-to-many connection, one Group Owner (GO) and many clients.
Send multicast packets from a source peer to the other peers?
Based on the technical specs, the GO shall act as a DHCP server and provide an IP address to the connected clients (which should act as a DHCP client). Each device can easily know its own IP and the GO's IP, so it should be possible to do a broadcast using the address 255.255.255.255.
Regarding a proper multicast, I am not sure, I guess it depends on the capabilities of the DHCP server created.
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