Enhancing trust establishment in wireless multi-hop networks via preferential attachment

In this paper the problem of enhancing trust establishment in multi-hop wireless networks is addressed. Exploiting small-world features and based on preferential attachment and initial node trust values, we design inverse Topology Control methods that achieve to reduce the mean hop-distance between two nodes and increase the average trust value of the shortest paths. Based on continuum theory a mathematical framework is developed for the overall socially-motivated trust-based network churn mechanism. Analytical and simulation results exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed approaches for enhancing physical topologies, increasing the average trust path values, and thus further securing future communications systems.