A mobile ad hoc network is a self-created, self-organized and self-administering set of nodes connected via wireless links without the aid of any fixed infrastructure or administrator. Protecting the network layer from malicious attacks is an important and challenging issue in both wired and wireless networks and the issue becomes even more challenging in the case of wireless mobile ad hoc networks. In this paper we propose a solution using a triple umpiring system (TUS), which provides security for routing and data-forwarding operations. In our system each node's behaviour from source to destination is closely monitored by a set of three umpires. If any misbehaviour is noticed, umpires flag off the guilty node from the circuit. We have proposed two enhancements to the basic TUS for salvaging the circuit during disruptions in route reply and data-forwarding phases. The model with these two enhancements is called ETUS. We have implemented TUS and ETUS by modifying the popular Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector protocol. Extensive simulation studies using QualNet 5.0 establish the soundness of the proposal. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
['Ayyaswamy Kathirvel', 'Rengaramanujam Srinivasan']
ETUS: an enhanced triple umpiring system for security and performance improvement of mobile ad hoc networks