Is Receptor Degeneracy Suitable for Automatic Response Decisions in Ad Hoc Networks?

Introduction and Position

Wireless ad hoc networks are an example for pervasive communication systems. Due to their decentralized design, they can be subject to a large variety of communication errors, system failures or even attacks and intrusions. Current research focuses either on specific avoidance and/or protective actions such as secure routing protocols or on general misbehavior detection with human operator based response management [1]. However, due to the complexity of large-scale ad hoc networks, self-organization and self-healing properties are necessary. A concept which allows for automatic responses to mitigate the effects of misbehavior is missing. In this statement we discuss whether an adaptive decision making process based on the concept of receptor degeneracy, being a part of the cognitive immune self theory described by Cohen in 2000, is feasible.