Research on Cooperative Packet Forwarding and Punishment Mechanism in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks, because of nodes’ limited energy and resources, they are unwilling to forward packets under the conditions of selfish and rational nodes. To improve network payoff, nodes have to cooperate to send and forward packets. In this paper, we present a repeated game theoretic model and design a payoff function on path connectivity and energy consumption. Using the punishment mechanism, the repeat game model can propel a Nash Equilibrium and decrease the defection possibility of selfish nodes. Our simulation results show the repeated game model enhances the network payoff and improves energy efficiency, and also show that the defection at any selfish node will degrade the network payoff and cause energy waste.