Mitigating selfish misbehavior in multi-hop networks using stochastic game theory

Cooperation is a critical issue in autonomous multi-hop networks due to their lack of infrastructure. Each node in the network is at the same time a terminal and a router. As such, cooperation often involves forwarding packets from other nodes, which is not in the best interest of the individual node, due to the cost involved. In this paper, we propose Punish Only n Times (PONT): A distributed algorithm based on stochastic game theory that can force intelligent selfish autonomous nodes to cooperate without a contract in a multi-hop network.