Distributed Trust and Reputation Management for Future Wireless Systems

Trust lies at the center of the paradigm shift required to realize the ultra-dense networks needed by future radio communication systems. We propose a distributed, three-layer, trust-based hardware sharing scheme between operators that overcomes the limitations of a single-operator-owned monolithic network. Our system scales to tens of thousands of operators without requiring explicit contracts between them, or between operators and user equipment. User equipment in turn is free to requisition the services of any available hardware. This is achieved by abstracting the communication process as a transaction, and casting it within a distributed ledger technology framework paired with an efficient, fault-tolerant, distributed consensus protocol. A trust model associates a behavioral measure with each hardware device that signals its reliability, as well as its payoff. The proposed system offers multiple advantages for users, operators, and regulators.