Reputation-Based Trust Management for Distributed Spectrum Sensing

One of the solutions to the hidden node problem in Cognitive Radio (CR) networks is to construct a global radio environment map (REM) hosted on a central controlling server. With this approach, the responsibility of sensing the radio environment can be distributed among all the nodes in the cognitive radio network. This introduces vulnerability because the server depends on the participating nodes to provide honest and accurate spectrum sense information. This research develops a reputation-based security mechanism that protects the radio environment map against falsified spectrum information that may be provided by malicious members of the network.