Priority Forwarding in Ad Hoc Networks with Self-Interested Parties

This paper examines the problem of incentivizing autonomous, self-interested nodes in an ad hoc network to cooperate in forwarding packets between non-adjacent nodes. We argue that assumptions about the homogeneity of nodes or their preferences are antithetical to the design philosophy of ad hoc networks. Instead, we postulate that a layered design consisting of policed but unpriced best-effort forwarding and priced priority forwarding effectively separates the issues of policing “misbehavior” from penalizing “greed.” Leveraging existing schemes to provide best-effort service in the face of malicious nodes, we present an initial design of an incentive-based scheme that provides priority forwarding for “well-behaved” nodes.