Uncertainty Mitigation for Trustworthiness-Oriented Applications in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Link and node trustworthiness are important metrics in wireless ad hoc networks. Many existing wireless ad hoc network routing algorithms assume the availability of precise trustworthiness information. This, however, is an unrealistic assumption given the dynamics of wireless ad hoc networks. Therefore, a realistic method is needed to evaluate trustworthiness by mitigating uncertainty in the estimation process. In this paper, we propose a novel trustworthiness estimation model that accounts for uncertainty as well as two uncertainty mitigation schemes. We then illustrate the effectiveness of our schemes using a utility-oriented routing algorithm as a sample application. An extensive simulation study shows that these two uncertainty mitigation schemes significantly increase path stability and the long-term total benefit of the wireless ad hoc network. key words: trustworthiness, risk, uncertainty, wireless ad hoc networks