A Channel Selection Model Based on Trust Metrics for Wireless Communications

Dynamic allocation of frequency resources to nodes in a wireless communication network is a well-known method adopted to mitigate potential interference, both unintentional and malicious. Various selection approaches have been adopted in literature, to limit the impact of interference and keep a high quality of wireless links. In this paper, we propose a different channel selection method, based on trust policies. The trust management approach proposed in this work relies on the node’s own experience and trust recommendations provided by its neighbourhood. By means of simulation results in Network Simulator NS-3, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed trust method, while the system is under jamming attacks, in respect of a baseline approach. We also consider and evaluate the resilience of our approach in respect of malicious nodes, providing false information regarding the quality of the channel, to induct bad channel selection of the node. Results show how the system is resilient in respect of malicious nodes, keeping around 10% of throughput more than an approach only based on the own proper experience, considering the presence of 40% of malicious nodes, both single and collusive attacks.