Improving the performability of data transfer in mobile ad hoc networks

Data transfer in ad hoc environments shows poor network performance due to frequent link breakages and route failures. Selfish and malicious nodes may further deteriorate nodes communication, having a strong impact on transport layer protocols such as TCP, which are highly sensitive to packet losses. Although these misbehaviors have similar effects on the network functioning (i.e. packets are dropped), they are separately addressed by the research community. This paper provides a comprehensive method to improve the performance and reliability (performability) of nodes communication in presence of faults, selfish and malicious behavior. Specifically, we propose and evaluate a novel forwarding policy that is based on multi-path routing and considers nodes reliability and routes length in forwarding decisions. We investigate through simulations how this mechanism improves the performability of TCP data transfers. In particular, we show that the simultaneous use of multiple paths yields higher throughput and continuous network connectivity when compared to single path forwarding. This has been verified in case of both fault conditions and intentional nodes misbehavior.