Game-Based Trust Establishment for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

MANET, within which nodes can move arbitrarily, is a self-organized network without fixed infrastructure. However, due to the lack of infrastructure, limited resources and vulnerability of wireless links, security in mobile ad hoc networks is considered to be much more difficult than in traditional wired networks. Building trust relationships between each node can effectively improve the network security and performance. In this paper, basing on the game theory, we present a trust establishment scheme appropriate to the MANET environment. First, we introduce an evaluation model for trust value. Second, we analyze the computational methods of the evaluation model. Last, we propose the framework of trust establishment for MANET.