Jamming the Underwater: a Game-Theoretic Analysis of Energy-Depleting Jamming Attacks

Underwater sensor networks can be employed in both military and environmental remote coastal monitoring applications, such as enemy targeting and identification, and tsunami prevention. Jamming can be a serious issue in these networks, typically composed by battery-powered nodes, as an attacker can not only disrupt packet delivery, but also reduce the lifetime of energy-constrained nodes. In this work, we consider a malicious jammer with the dual objective of preventing communication and depleting the battery of a targeted underwater sensor node. The jammed node may use packet-level coding as a countermeasure against the attack, so as to increase its chances of correctly delivering its information to the legitimate receiver. We model this scenario as a multistage game, derive the optimal long-term strategies for both sides, and evaluate how the position of the jammer affects the communication of the legitimate network.