Basics…Ad Hoc Networks
Motivation
Definition
Steps for Engineering Incentive Schemes in a protocol
Incentive based Routing Protocols


Basics…Ad Hoc Networks
Set of nodes who wish to communicate without any network infrastructure.
All nodes equipped with transmission and receiving capability
Not every node is in the range of every other node.
Thus the node has to take assistance of intermediate nodes if it want to transmit packets to other nodes not in its range of transmission.
Usage: E.g. For communication during emergency and military situations (Cooperative ad hoc networks) or in general when nodes want to communicate in a civilian domain (Non-Cooperative ad hoc network)

Motivation:-
Overview: An ad hoc routing protocol
The routing function is distributed among the participating nodes
Current ad hoc routing protocols assumes that all the nodes are cooperative
However, forwarding of packets consumes resources such as battery power which are scarce.
If the nodes in an non cooperative network belong to different users, they don’t have any incentive to cooperate
The routing component of any such protocol will not work if the nodes are selfish as the information provided by nodes may not be correct
Thus to prevent this, protocols should have an incentive scheme associated with them.


Definition: Incentive based Schemes

In ad hoc networks, devices have to cooperate.
Autonomous devices tend to abstain from cooperation.
Incentive schemes have been proposed as a means of fostering cooperation under these circumstances
Note: In order to work effectively, incentive schemes need to be carefully tailored to the characteristics of the cooperation protocol they should support.
E.g. If Node A wants to Communicate with Node Z (Z not in its radio range). The intermediate nodes B, C … Y need some kind of incentive to use their resources to forward packets.