Utility-Based Node Cooperation Mechanism in Wireless Sensor Networks

Copyright © 2013 Xiaohui Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In wireless sensor networks, due to the energy and resource constraints, nodes may be unwilling to forward packets for their neighbors. This can render severe deteriorations in the network performance and malfunctions of the system. To tackle such selfish behaviors and enhance the cooperation among sensors, based on reputation and energy consumption of each node, we present a utility function to punish the malicious nodes and encourage cooperation among nodes. Spe-cifically, we firstly give a mixed strategy Nash equilibrium solution for the two nodes. Then we extend the model to multi-nodes scenario. With the unity function, each sensor’s reputation is evaluated according to its degree of coopera-tion. The extensive simulation results have shown the effectiveness of the mechanism, in that the cooperative behaviors are encouraged, which can ensure the normal functioning of the network system