A credible routing based on a novel trust mechanism in Ad Hoc networks

Many existing routing protocols in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) focus on finding paths in dynamic networks without considering security. In this paper, we propose a trust model which evaluates neighbours' direct trust by factors of encounter time, mobility, and successful cooperation frequency. The revised D-S evidence theory is used to combine multiple recommended pieces of evidence and obtain the recommended trust value. Then based on the novel trust mechanism, we propose a trusted routing protocol named TDS-AODV protocol by extending the AODV protocol. In this protocol, a node makes a routing decision according to the trust values of its neighbour nodes. Finally, two routes are built: the main route with highest route trust value in the candidate routes and a backup route. Simulation results reveal that TDS-AODV can eliminate malicious nodes effectively when building the route; furthermore, it also achieves better performance than TAODV and AODV in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio, and average end to end delay.