{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,22]],"date-time":"2025-10-22T05:23:42Z","timestamp":1761110622491,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,12]],"date-time":"2022-01-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1641945600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The distributed nature of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) presents security challenges and vulnerabilities which sometimes lead to several forms of attacks. To improve the security in MANETs, reputation and trust management systems (RTMS) have been developed to mitigate some attacks and threats arising from abnormal behaviours of nodes in networks. Generally, most reputation and trust systems in MANETs focus mainly on penalising uncooperative network nodes. It is a known fact that nodes in MANETs have limited energy resources and as such, the continuous collaboration of cooperative nodes will lead to energy exhaustion. This paper develops and evaluates a robust Dirichlet reputation and trust management system which measures and models the reputation and trust of nodes in the network, and it incorporates candour into the mode of operations of the RTMS without undermining network security. The proposed RTMS employs Dirichlet probability distribution in modelling the individual reputation of nodes and the trust of each node is computed based on the node\u2019s actual network performance and the accuracy of the second-hand reputations it gives about other nodes. The paper also presents a novel candour two-dimensional trustworthiness evaluation technique that categorises the behaviours of nodes based on their evaluated total reputation and trust values. The evaluation and analyses of some of the simulated behaviours of nodes in the deployed MANETs show that the candour two-dimensional trustworthiness evaluation technique is an effective technique that encourages and caters to nodes that continuously contribute to the network despite the reduction in their energy levels.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22020571","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,12]],"date-time":"2022-01-12T09:10:36Z","timestamp":1641978636000},"page":"571","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["A Robust Dirichlet Reputation and Trust Evaluation of Nodes in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4709-9629","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric","family":"Chiejina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK"}]},{"given":"Hannan","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK"}]},{"given":"Bruce","family":"Christianson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8819-5831","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexios","family":"Mylonas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK"}]},{"given":"Chidinma","family":"Chiejina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"711","DOI":"10.1109\/TCOM.1980.1094721","article-title":"The New Routing Algorithm for the ARPANET","volume":"28","author":"McQuillan","year":"1980","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Commun."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1755","DOI":"10.1109\/JPROC.2010.2059690","article-title":"A survey of trust and reputation management systems in wireless communications","volume":"98","author":"Yu","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proc. IEEE"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bo, S.M., Xiao, H., Adereti, A., Malcolm, J.A., and Christianson, B. (2007, January 29\u201331). A performance comparison of wireless ad hoc network routing protocols under security attack. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Information Assurance and Security, Manchester, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/IAS.2007.35"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chiejina, E., Xiao, H., and Christianson, B. (2013, January 29). A Candour-based Trust and Reputation Management System for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. Proceedings of the 6th York Doctoral Symposium on Computer Science & Electronics, York, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/CEEC.2014.6958568"},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Sonja, B., and Boudec, J. (2004, January 4\u20135). A Robust Reputation System for Peer-to-Peer and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks. Proceedings of the Second Workshop on the Economics of Peer-to-Peer Systems (P2PEcon 2004), Cambridge, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1109\/JSAC.2005.861389","article-title":"Information theoretic framework of trust modeling and evaluation for ad hoc networks","volume":"24","author":"Sun","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Theodorakopoulos, G., and Baras, J.S. (2007, January 6\u201312). Malicious users in unstructured networks. Proceedings of the IEEE INFOCOM 2007\u201426th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications, Anchorage, AK, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/INFCOM.2007.108"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"172","DOI":"10.1109\/TNSM.2010.1009.I9P0339","article-title":"Trust management in mobile Ad Hoc networks using a scalable maturity-based model","volume":"7","author":"Velloso","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zouridaki, C., Mark, B.L., Hejmo, M., and Thomas, R.K. (2005, January 7). A quantitative trust establishment framework for reliable data packet delivery in MANETs. Proceedings of the 2005 ACM Workshop on Security of Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks, Alexandria, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1102219.1102222"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1007\/s11277-006-1574-5","article-title":"Trust establishment in pure ad-hoc networks","volume":"37","author":"Pirzada","year":"2006","journal-title":"Wirel. Pers. Commun."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boukerche, A., and Ren, Y. (2008, January 27\u201328). A security management scheme using a novel computational reputation model for wireless and mobile Ad hoc networks. Proceedings of the 5th ACM symposium on Performance evaluation of wireless ad hoc, sensor, and ubiquitous networks, Vancouver, BC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1145\/1454609.1454628"},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"121","article-title":"Context residual energy-based trust management in mobile ad hoc networks","volume":"19","author":"Vijayan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Commun. Netw. Distrib. Syst."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8814141","DOI":"10.1155\/2021\/8814141","article-title":"Black Hole Attack Detection Using K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm and Reputation Calculation in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks","volume":"2021","author":"Farahani","year":"2021","journal-title":"Secur. Commun. Netw."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1007\/s11277-020-07711-6","article-title":"Defending Against Smart Grayhole Attack Within MANETs: A Reputation-Based Ant Colony Optimization Approach for Secure Route Discovery in DSR Protocol","volume":"116","author":"Ourouss","year":"2021","journal-title":"Wirel. Pers. Commun."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, S.-W., and Xia, H. (2018, January 26\u201328). A Reputation Management Framework for MANETs. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Symposium on Privacy-Aware Computing (PAC), Washington, DC, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/PAC.2018.00019"},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"5340","article-title":"Node activity based trust and reputation estimation approach for secure and QoS routing in MANET","volume":"9","author":"Raju","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. J. Electr. Comput. Eng."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.3390\/computers4020087","article-title":"A dynamic reputation management system for mobile ad hoc networks","volume":"4","author":"Chiejina","year":"2015","journal-title":"Computers"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1109\/MTS.2008.918039","article-title":"Reputation systems for self-organized networks","volume":"27","author":"Buchegger","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Technol. Soc. Mag."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zouridaki, C., Mark, B.L., Hejmo, M., and Thomas, R.K. (2006, January 30). Robust cooperative trust establishment for MANETs. Proceedings of the fourth ACM Workshop on Security of Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks, Alexandria, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1180345.1180349"},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"2","article-title":"Secure routing for mobile ad hoc networks","volume":"7","author":"Desai","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"345","article-title":"Secure routing in mobile Ad hoc networks: A predictive approach","volume":"11","author":"Desai","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. J. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liu, J., Fu, F., Xiao, J., and Lu, Y. (August, January 30). Secure Routing for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. Proceedings of the Eighth ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking, and Parallel\/Distributed Computing (SNPD 2007), Qingdao, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/SNPD.2007.223"},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Bansal, S., and Baker, M. (2003). Observation-based Cooperation Enforcement in Ad Hoc Networks. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Michiardi, P., and Molva, R. (2002). Core: A Collaborative Reputation Mechanism to Enforce Node Cooperation in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. Advanced Communications and Multimedia Security, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-0-387-35612-9_9"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Marti, S., Giuli, T.J., Lai, K., and Baker, M. (2000, January 6\u201311). Mitigating routing misbehavior in mobile ad hoc networks. Proceedings of the 6th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, Boston, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/345910.345955"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.adhoc.2011.01.018","article-title":"A trust-based framework for data forwarding in opportunistic networks","volume":"11","author":"Li","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ad Hoc Netw."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1002\/wcm.399","article-title":"A secure incentive architecture for ad hoc networks","volume":"6","author":"He","year":"2006","journal-title":"Wirel. Commun. Mob. Comput."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Buchegger, S., and Le Boudec, J.-Y. (2002, January 9\u201311). Nodes bearing grudges: Towards routing security, fairness, and robustness in mobile ad hoc networks. Proceedings of the 10th Euromicro Workshop on Parallel, Distributed and Network-based Processing, Canary Islands, Spain."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Banerjee, A., Neogy, S., and Chowdhury, C. (2012, January 16\u201318). Reputation based trust management system for MANET. Proceedings of the 2012 Third International Conference on Emerging Applications of Information Technology, Las Vegas, NA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/EAIT.2012.6407975"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"250","DOI":"10.1002\/sec.173","article-title":"A Dirichlet reputation system in reliable routing of wireless ad hoc network","volume":"3","author":"Yang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Secur. Commun. Netw."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sun, Y.L., Han, Z., Yu, W., and Liu, K.R. (2006, January 23\u201329). A trust evaluation framework in distributed networks: Vulnerability analysis and defense against attacks. Proceedings of the IEEE INFOCOM 2006. 25TH IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications, Barcelona, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/INFOCOM.2006.154"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cho, J.-H., Swami, A., and Chen, I.-R. (2009, January 29\u201331). Modeling and analysis of trust management for cognitive mission-driven group communication systems in mobile ad hoc networks. Proceedings of the 12th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, CSE 2009, Vancouver, BC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSE.2009.68"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Buchegger, S., and Le Boudec, J. (2003, January 3\u20135). The Effect of Rumor Spreading in Reputation Systems for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks. Proceedings of the WiOpt\u203203: Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc and Wireless Networks, Valbonne, France."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Josang, A., and Haller, J. (2007, January 10\u201313). Dirichlet reputation systems. Proceedings of the The Second International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES\u203207), Vienna, Austria.","DOI":"10.1109\/ARES.2007.71"},{"key":"ref_35","first-page":"19","article-title":"The ns Manual (formerly ns Notes and Documentation)","volume":"47","author":"Fall","year":"2011","journal-title":"VINT Proj."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/2\/571\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T14:28:39Z","timestamp":1760365719000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/2\/571"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,12]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1]]}},"alternative-id":["s22020571"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s22020571","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,12]]}}}