EcoRep: An Economic Model for efficient dynamic replication in Mobile-P2P networks

In mobile ad-hoc peer-to-peer (M-P2P) networks, frequent network partitioning leads to typically low data availability, thereby making data replication a necessity. This work proposes EcoRep, a novel economic model for dynamic replica allocation in M-P2P networks. EcoRep performs replica allocation based on a data item’s relative importance, which is quantified by the data item’s price in terms of a virtual currency. The price of a data item depends on its access frequency, the number of users who accessed it, the number of its existing replicas, its (replica) consistency and the average response time required for accessing it. EcoRep ensures fair replica allocation by considering the origin of queries for data items. EcoRep requires a query issuing user to pay the price of his requested data item to the user serving his request. This discourages free-riding and encourages user participation by providing an incentive for users to become service-providers. EcoRep also considers other issues such as load, energy and network topology as replication criteria. Our performance study indicates that EcoRep is indeed effective in improving query response times and data availability in M-P2P networks.