On Evolution of Cooperative Overlay Network Based on Group Selection Mechanism

In this paper, we study the dynamic evolution of individual strategies of autonomous peers when the overlay network structure is formed by those peers. Inspired by evolutionary game, we propose general mechanism for the decentralized coordination evolution of overlay network structure, based on peers´ simple local interaction, which integrates the network reciprocity and group selection mechanism, and can lead to the emergence of cooperative overlay structure. Specifically, we design the link-formation game to characterize the social dilemma of forming links in overlay network. Then, in evolution phase of each peer, we adopt simple economic concept to facilitate the evolution of overlay network into cooperative structure. Simulations clearly show the effects of various parameters, like mutation probability, the number of left peers in evolution phase and the ratio of benefit to cost, on the evolution of cooperation in overlay networks.