Trusting routers and relays in ad hoc networks

The current generation of ad hoc networks relies on other nodes in the network for routing information and for routing the packets. These networks are based on the fundamental assumption that the nodes will cooperate and not cheat. This assumption becomes invalid when the network nodes have tangential or contradictory goals. A novel method of enhancing routing strategies, and enhancing cooperation is to use "reputations" computed from peer recommendations. Reputation assignment and use cajole cooperation from the nodes in the network even if they do not share the same goal. This paper provides a mechanism that can use reputations in ad hoc network for trusting routers and relays. In addition, it enumerates the issues involved in using reputation in ad hoc networks. The simulations show that the throughput of the network increases by 0% - 71.6% when the neighbor reputations and shortest path are considered, for deciding the next hop. The throughput of the network improves from 3% to 143% when the next hop of the packet is decided using only reputations and ignoring the shortest path. The average hop length is the same irrespective of the fact that reputations are used.