JSE_V4_N1_RP3 Shyam Sunder Reddy K. C. Shoba Bindu Journal on Software Engineering 2230 – 7168 4 1 27 40 Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Routing Misbehavior, Selfishness, Network Security A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a temporary infrastructureless network, formed by a set of mobile hosts that dynamically establish their own network without relying on any central administration. Mobile ad hoc networking works properly only if the participating nodes cooperate in routing and forwarding. However, performing network functions consumes energy and other resources. To save its energy a node may behave selfishly and uses the forwarding service of other nodes without correctly forwarding packets for them. These nodes must be identified and excluded from the cooperative part of the network, as they only consume resources and don't contribute to the infrastructure. In MANET's routing misbehavior can severely degrade the performance at the routing layer. Specifically, nodes may participate in the route discovery and maintenance process but refuse to forward data packets. This paper surveys the most important selfishness detection and prevention methods that have been introduced, providing a comprehensive comparison between the different proposed schemes. July - September 2009 Copyright © 2009 i-manager publications. All rights reserved. i-manager Publications http://www.imanagerpublications.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=476