Mitigating packet dropping problem and malicious node detection mechanism in ad hoc wireless networks

Abstract

Lack of association among the nodes, mobility, device heterogeneity, bandwidth, multihop and battery power constraints in ad hoc wireless networks make the design of efficient routing protocols a major challenge. MANET is more susceptible to be attacked than wired network. Encryption, cryptography and authentication are the preventive measures that may be used at the initial level for sinking the attack possibilities, but these techniques are not capable to protect a network from newer attacks. Considering the parameters like bandwidth, energy, security, etc. many routing protocols categorized as reactive, proactive and hybrid have been proposed for communications; still an efficient communication and the dropping of packets are the major issues in MANET that need to be focused. Moreover, possibility of dropping a packet during transmission by malicious node cannot be ignored. In this paper, we have presented a practical approach for cluster head election and the possible probabilities. Issues with the packet dropping at localized level and maintaining the stability of the nodes have been explored. We also present a malicious node detection method. Preliminary simulation results have shown that proposed system reduces the impact of sequence number attack and packet dropping attack to very high extend.