Selfishness in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks: A Literature Review on Detection Techniques and Prevention Mechanisms

Constant connectivity is one of the most challenging requirements modern communication networks promise to satisfy. 5G and Beyond applications and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) applications make mobile networks one of the most discussed research topics of the present, while research is already moving towards the design specifications and development of 6G services and solutions. Using multi-hop patterns, mobile nodes can move around always maintaining their connectivity in a pervasive and ubiquitous manner. New possibilities emerge from this progress, whereas long known challenges still exist and evolve. One of them is the selfishness or unwillingness of some nodes to spend resources to serve the communication requests of other nodes, not in a malicious but rather in a self-conservative manner. While intentional misbehavior of nodes is considered a security issue, selfishness is studied separately in the relevant literature and has attracted a lot of research attention. In this review we attempt to present the leading research on the detection techniques and the preventive mechanisms employed by previous studies to address the selfishness problem in mobile ad hoc networks, and to identify the trends during the past few years, focusing primarily on the routing layer. We follow a systematic methodology to identify, select, categorize, and analyze the relevant research and we use a concept-centric approach to present the results forming a comprehensive starting point for future research.