MDAC: A new reputation system for misbehavior detection and control in ad hoc networks

Reputation systems are an emerging area of research in ad-hoc networks. They have been introduced as a security solution for nodes´ misbehaving problem. A reputation system should cope with any kind of misbehavior. It enables honest nodes to make fair decisions about their neighbors. This may encourage nodes to behave well and cooperate in order to avoid being penalized or isolated. In this paper, we propose a new reputation system for Misbehavior Detection And Control in ad hoc Networks (MDAC). It aims to overcome some of the unsolved issues of other reputation systems, and it is customizable for any ad hoc network. Robustness, stability, and fairness are all primary aspects of a successful reputation system. MDAC adopts a strategy of specific information sharing and collection in order to minimize traffic overhead, and also to override the false reports from nodes about each other. The reputation system´s structure is presented, and the new features of the proposed approach are discussed. MDAC´s functionality has been tested and evaluated through simulations compared to the OCEAN-DSR protocol.