A Novel Routing Approach for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks Based on Game Theory

Ad hoc networks have characteristics such as flexibility, fast and easy deployment, and robustness. They do not rely on any fixed infrastructure, such as access points or base station, they can be deployed rapidly and inexpensively even in situations with geographical or time constraints, and they have the properties of self-organizing and self-managing. Depending on the network environment, we can choose a different routing protocol, such as a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), a wireless mesh network, or a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). Through the work presented in this paper we have designed a new routing algorithm applying game theory to routing within the highly independent wireless ad hoc networks. Each node in the network, depending on the actual situation, selects its own reasonable cost next node. However, the development of each network node's routing cost must be in line with Nash equilibrium and the network nodes pricing mechanism. Our simulation results show that the new algorithm is efficient and scales well to large networks.