Path-based reputation system for mANET routing

Abstract

Most existing reputation systems in mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) consider only node reputations when selecting routes. Therefore, reputation and trust are only ensured within a one-hop distance when routing decisions are made. This often fails to provide the most reliable, trusted route. In this paper we propose a system that is based on path reputation, which is computed from the reputation and trust values of each and every node in the route. This greatly enhances the reliability of the resulting routes. The system is simulated on top of the AODV (Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector) routing protocol. It is effective at detecting misbehaving nodes, including selfishness and worm-hole attacks. It greatly improves network throughput in the midst of malicious nodes and requires very limited message overhead. To our knowledge, this is the first path-based reputation system proposal that is applicable to non-source-based routing schemes. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.