Journal of Advanced Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Human-Machine Interaction
Negative Effects of Selfish Nodes in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs): A Comprehensive Review and Analytical Framework
Abstract
Ebenezer Amakeh
Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) rely on multi-hop cooperation: mobile devices act not only as end hosts but also as routers that relay packets for other users. In practice, however, nodes may behave selfishly to conserve scarce resources such as battery energy, bandwidth, CPU time, and buffer capacity. Unlike overtly malicious attacks that aim to harm the network even at a cost, selfish behavior is often economically rational and may be intermittent, selective, and context dependent. These properties make selfishness difficult to detect and, importantly, allow it to degrade performance in ways that are easily mistaken for normal mobility or wireless losses. This paper synthesizes the negative effects of selfish nodes in MANETs and explains how local non-cooperation propagates into network-wide degradation. We provide a taxonomy of selfish behaviors across layers (routing misbehavior, selective forwarding, route misreporting, resource hoarding, and MAC-layer misbehavior), and then analyze downstream impacts on packet delivery ratio, delay/jitter, routing overhead, energy consumption, fairness, and the risk of network partitioning. To support interpretation, we introduce simple analytical models that relate selfishness severity and path length to end-to-end delivery probability and illustrate how reduced effective cooperative density increases partition risk. Finally, we present a reproducible evaluation template (protocol choices, selfishness models, metrics, and statistical reporting) to guide rigorous empirical studies. The synthesis underscores a central finding: selfishness frequently creates reinforcing feedback loops—loss triggers rerouting, rerouting increases control traffic, control traffic consumes energy and bandwidth, and these pressures can induce further selfishness. Therefore, the cost of selfish behavior is not limited to dropped packets; it can shorten network lifetime and compromise mission-critical applications even when only a fraction of nodes defect.