Relay selection based on coalitional game for secure wireless networks

Abstract

In this study, a two-stage decode-and-forward cooperative network is investigated consisting of a source, a corresponding destination, an eavesdropper and several intermediate nodes. In this study, the authors present an analysis of overall secrecy rate considering both distributed relay selection and secure beamforming problems. The achievable rate constraint is newly included into the system model. This modelling framework offers a more reliable approximation of the practical wireless channel. The relay selection is formulated as a coalitional game with transferable utility, which decreases the computation complexity in solving the distributed relay selection problem. A new ‘Max–Pareto order’ is constructed, which not only considers the player value, but also reflects the dominated weight of coalition value. Moreover, a distributed merge-and-split coalition formation algorithm is presented in this study. This algorithm achieves the system performance close to the theoretical upper limit, but it requires much less computation consumption.