Dealing with Liars: Misbehavior Identification via Rényi-Ulam Games

We address the problem of identifying misbehaving nodes that refuse to forward packets in wireless multi-hop networks. We map the process of locating the misbehaving nodes to the classic Rényi-Ulam game of 20 questions. Compared to previous methods, our mapping allows the evaluation of node behavior on a per-packet basis, without the need for energy-expensive overhearing techniques or intensive acknowledgment schemes. Furthermore, it copes with colluding adversaries that coordinate their behavioral patterns to avoid identification and frame honest nodes. We show via simulations that our algorithms reduce the communication overhead for identifying misbehaving nodes by at least one order of magnitude compared to other methods, while increasing the identification delay logarithmically with the path size.