MobiCoop: An Incentive-Based Cooperation Solution for Mobile Applications

Network architectures based on mobile devices and wireless communications present several constraints (e.g., processor, energy storage, bandwidth, etc.) that affect the overall network performance. Cooperation strategies have been considered as a solution to address these network limitations. In the presence of unstable network infrastructures, mobile nodes cooperate with each other, forwarding data and performing other specific network functionalities. This article proposes a generalized incentive-based cooperation solution for mobile services and applications called MobiCoop. This reputation-based scheme includes an application framework for mobile applications that uses a Web service to handle all the nodes reputation and network permissions. The main goal of MobiCoop is to provide Internet services to mobile devices without network connectivity through cooperation with neighbor devices. The article includes a performance evaluation study of MobiCoop considering both a real scenario (using a prototype) and a simulation-based study. Results show that the proposed approach provides network connectivity independency to users with mobile apps when Internet connectivity is unavailable. Then, it is concluded that MobiCoop improved significantly the overall system performance and the service provided for a given mobile application.