A subjective approach to routing in P2P and ad hoc networks

This paper presents a subjective approach to routing in peer-to-peer and ad hoc networks. The main difference between our approach and traditional routing models is the use of a trust model to mediate the risk inherent in routing decisions. Rather than blindly exchanging routing table entries, nodes 'discount' recommendations from other nodes using a distributed trust computation which allows them to avoid malicious, faulty and unreliable nodes and links in routing decisions. Adding the risk model allows energy-efficient routing decisions to be made in a wireless network, and we show how our model can be optimized for different network behaviours, including wireless networks. The model is described in the context of the DSR [1] routing algorithm, although it is equally-applicable to others, including peer-to-peer routing substrates.