Reputation-based mechanism to mitigate misbehavior in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) is a collection of mobile nodes forming the network dynamically for exchange of information using the multi-hop wireless communications. Routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks are designed with an assumption that the nodes will cooperate in packet forwarding between distant nodes using multi-hop communication. The cooperation between nodes does not exist always. In order to save scarce resources like battery power, bandwidth etc., the nodes may misbehave. To address the problem of detecting and isolating misbehaving, a reputation-based mechanism is proposed. This mechanism allows the nodes to evaluate the reputation value of other nodes based on direct and indirect observations of their behaviors. The route path is established based on this observed behavior between source and destination. This method helps to identify the misbehaving nodes in the network.