Identification of Critical Nodes Based on Overall Network Performance in Ad Hoc Network

With the characteristics of self-organization and no network infrastructure, Ad Hoc network is widely used in civil and military communication. Critical node identification is an important factor in Ad Hoc network security. To evaluate the importance of nodes, we propose a critical node identification algorithm based on cascading failure from the overall performance of the network, which is called the connectivity loss potential (CLP) algorithm. Specifically, the connectivity loss potential is used as a measure to complete the preliminary screening of critical nodes and then expand horizontally and vertically according to the spatial locations of the initial node-set. Select the nodes that can greatly decrease the network's connectivity as the identification results of critical nodes. Simulation results show that the proposed CLP algorithm outperforms other critical node identification algorithms, leading to the networks collapse with fewer nodes removed.