A game theoretical data replication technique for mobile ad hoc networks

Adaptive replication of data items on servers of a mobile ad hoc network can alleviate access delays. The selection of data items and servers requires solving a constrained optimization problem, that is in general NP-complete. The problem is further complicated by frequent partitions of the ad hoc network. In this paper, a mathematical model for data replication in ad hoc networks is formulated. We treat the mobile servers in the ad hoc network as self-interested entities, hence they have the capability to manipulate the outcome of a resource allocation mechanism by misrepresenting their valuations. We design a game theoretic "truthful" mechanism in which replicas are allocated to mobile servers based on reported valuations. We sketch the exact properties of the truthful mechanism and derive a payment scheme that suppresses the selfish behavior of the mobile servers. The proposed technique is extensively evaluated against three ad hoc network replica allocation methods: (a) extended static access frequency, (b) extended dynamic access frequency and neighborhood, and (c) extended dynamic connectivity grouping. The experimental results reveal that the proposed approach outperforms the three techniques in solution quality and has competitive execution times.