Improved grey relational analysis-based TOPSIS method for cooperation enforcing scheme to guarantee quality of service in MANETs

Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring and infrastructure less network in which the nodes are considered to move autonomously through the interfaces of wireless network within the range of communication. This dynamic and openness characteristic of MANET makes it highly susceptible to security attacks that can be malicious or selfish in nature. In this context, cooperation enforcing strategy that guarantees quality of service (QoS) is essential for attaining reliable data dissemination. In this paper, an improved grey relational analysis-based TOPSIS method (GRATOPSIS) is proposed as a cooperation enforcing strategy to assess the degree of trust rendered by each mobile node in the network for ensuring QoS. This GRATOPIS-based cooperation strategy is utilized for estimating the diversity of data distribution and large number of attribute indices that need to be explored during the process of evaluating the trust of mobile nodes. In specific, grey relational analysis is adopted for determining the degree of positive relation and grey negative relation that are essential to quantify the level of cooperation enforced between the mobile nodes of the network. Then, average, and standard deviation distance is computed for estimating the weight index of each attribute that need to be explored for assessing the cooperation of mobile nodes. Finally, GRA-improved TOPSIS is used for investigating the rank of mobile nodes based upon their packet forwarding and energy potency in the routing path. Simulation experiments of the proposed GRATOPSIS confirmed better throughput, packet delivery rate with minimized energy consumptions and end-to-end delay on par with the competitive cooperation enforcement schemes used for investigation. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management.