Incentive mechanism for the CoopNet network

Selfish behavior and the limited time peers stay connected to the system are two major factors which significantly impact the efficiency of peer-to-peer networks with media streaming. This paper introduces an incentive mechanism to the CoopNet Network, which employs multiple distribution trees for the delivery of media streams, in order to address both problems. The mechanism comprises a barter trade economy-based component and a reputation-based remuneration component. Several questions are addressed in the paper such as the percentage of cooperative peers necessary to provide quality of service and whether or not it is worthwhile increasing the duration of sessions in order to reduce disruptions in multicast trees. Simulation results show that the barter trade component is essential to make peer-to-peer networks feasible for the provisioning of video on demand services, while the reputation component is advantageous only when arrival rates are reasonably high.