An ad hoc network is a
collection of wireless mobile hosts forming a temporary network without the aid
of any established infrastructure or centralized administration. In such an
environment, it may be necessary for one mobile host to enlist the aid of other
hosts in forwarding a packet to its destination, due to the limited range of
each mobile host's wireless transmissions. These networks are based on the fundamental assumption
that the nodes will cooperate and not cheat. This assumption becomes invalid
when the network nodes have tangential or contradictory goals. The lack of
infrastructure and organizational environment of mobile ad-hoc networks also offers
special opportunities to attackers. We are working on providing security and incentive to enable the
relay-based hop-by-hop transmissions.