Abstract
The distributed nature of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) presents security challenges and vulnerabilities which sometimes lead to several forms of attacks. To improve the security in MANETs, reputation and trust management systems (RTMS) have been developed to mitigate some attacks and threats arising from abnormal behaviours of nodes in networks. Generally, most reputation and trust systems in MANETs focus mainly on penalising uncooperative network nodes. It is a known fact that nodes in MANETs have limited energy resources and as such, the continuous collaboration of cooperative nodes will lead to energy exhaustion. This paper develops and evaluates a robust Dirichlet reputation and trust management system which measures and models the reputation and trust of nodes in the network, and it incorporates candour into the mode of operations of the RTMS without undermining network security. The proposed RTMS employs Dirichlet probability distribution in modelling the individual reputation of nodes and the trust of each node is computed based on the node’s actual network performance and the accuracy of the second-hand reputations it gives about other nodes. The paper also presents a novel candour two-dimensional trustworthiness evaluation technique that categorises the behaviours of nodes based on their evaluated total reputation and trust values. The evaluation and analyses of some of the simulated behaviours of nodes in the deployed MANETs show that the candour two-dimensional trustworthiness evaluation technique is an effective technique that encourages and caters to nodes that continuously contribute to the network despite the reduction in their energy levels.
Highlights
The absence of centralised authority in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANETs), poses a key challenge due to the dire need for cooperative network operation amongst nodes
The observed optimal weights at any given time were recommended to be used in evaluating the trustworthiness of a node which would ensure that nodes are not unfairly penalized especially if they can still contribute to the network passively
Networks system describes a novel candour two-dimensional trustworthiness evaluation technique based on what a node says about other nodes and what it does with regards to forwarding packets
Summary
The absence of centralised authority in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANETs), poses a key challenge due to the dire need for cooperative network operation amongst nodes. Nodes that actively participate in route discovery processes and the forwarding of data packets tends to experience low energy levels after a certain period These low energy levels may in turn hamper their ability to carry out successful network operations which in turn may have a negative effect on their respective reputation and trust as well as their network performance [4]. It is a known fact that nodes do not have unlimited energy levels and there is a dire need for a reliable reputation and trust management system that would enforce cooperation by ensuring that collaborative nodes are rewarded for continuously conducting favourable network operations while nodes that are judged to be selfish or malicious nodes are penalised, isolated or denied the available the network resources.
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