The Study of Game Theory in Wireless Sensor Networks

International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: [email protected]

Volume 3, Issue 5, September-October 2014
ISSN 2278-6856
The Study of Game Theory in Wireless Sensor

Networks
Vinoba.V1, Chithra.S.M2
1. Department of Mathematics, K.N. Government Arts college, Tamil Nadu, India.
2. Department of Mathematics, R.M.K College of Engineering and Technology, Research Scholar, Bharathidasan
University, Tamil Nadu, India.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents fundamental results in game theory and
their application to wireless communications and networking.
It provides a foundational understanding of the current
research on game theory. The application of mathematical
analysis to wireless sensor networks has met with limited
success, due to the complexity of mobility and traffic models,
coupled with the dynamic topology and the unpredictability of
link quality that characterize such networks. The ability to
model individual, independent decision makers whose actions
potentially affect all other decision makers . Game theory is
particularly an attractive field to analyze the performance of
sensor networks. Game theory is a field of applied
mathematics that describes and analyzes interactive decision
situations. It consists of a set of analytical tools that predict the
outcome of complex interactions among rational entities,
where rationality demands a strict adherence to a strategy
based on perceived or measured results. There has been
growing interest in adopting game-theoretic methods to model
todays leading communications and networking issues,
including power control and resource sharing in wireless and
peer-to-peer networks. Also we discussed the challenges and
limitations in the application of game theory to the analysis of
wireless sensor networks and major game theoretic models.
Keywords: Game Theory, Cooperative game theory, Noncooperative game theory, Wireless communication and
Wireless Sensor Networks.
1. INTRODUCTION
Game theorys roots are extremely old. The ideas behind
game theory have appeared through-out history [1],
apparent in the bible, the Talmud, the works of Descartes
and Sun Tzu, and the writings of Charles Darwin [2].
However, some argue that the first actual study of game
theory started with the work of Daniel Bernoulli, A
mathematician born in 1700. Although his work, the
Bernoullis Principles formed the basis of jet engine
production and operations, he is credited with introducing
the concepts of expected utility and diminishing returns
[3]. Others argue that the first mathematical tool was
presented in England in the 18th century, by Thomas
Bayes, known as Bayes Theorem; his work involved
using probabilities as a basis for logical conclusion [3].
Nevertheless, the basis of modern game theory can be
considered as an outgrowth of a three seminal works; a
Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the
Theory of Wealth in 1838 by Augustine Carnot, gives an
intuitive explanation of what would eventually be
formalized as Nash equilibrium and gives a dynamic idea
of players best-response to the actions of others in the

game. In 1881, Francis Y. Edge worth expressed the idea
of competitive equilibrium in a two-person economy.
Finally, Emile Boral suggested the existence of mixed
strategies, or probability distributions over ones actions
that may lead to stable play. It is also widely accepted that
modern analysis of game theory and its modern
methodological framework began with John Von Neumann
and Oskar Morgenstern book. [4]. We can say now that
Game Theory is relatively not a new concept, having
been invented by John Von Neumann and Oskar
Morgenstern in 1944 [4]. At that time, the mathematical
frame work behind the concept has not yet been fully
established, limiting the concepts application to special
circumstances only [5]. In 1950 and 1960s game theory
was broadened theoretically and applied to problems of
war and politic. Game theory was later explicitly applied to
biology in the 1970s, although similar developments go
back at least as far as the 1930s. In John Von Neumann
and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking
mathematical theory of economic and social organization,
based on a theory of games of strategy [4]. Not only would
this reform economics, but the entirely new field of
scientific inquiry it yielded has since been widely used to
analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to
optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from
vaccination policy to major league baseball salary
negotiations [5] . In addition, it is today established
throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of
other sciences like Military etc.
2. GAME THEORY
Game theory, defined in the broadest sense, is a collection
of mathematical models formulated to study situations of
conflict and cooperation. It is concerned with finding the
best actions for individual decision makers in these
situations and recognizing stable outcomes. The object of
study in game theory is the game, defined to be any
situation in which:
There are at least two players: A player may be an
individual, a company, a nation, a wireless node, or
even a biological species.
Each player has a number of possible strategies,
courses of action he or she may choose to follow.
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The strategies chosen by each player determine the
outcome of the game.
Associated with each possible outcome of the game is
a collection of numerical payoffs, one to each player.
These payoffs represent the value of the outcome to
the different players.
In 1950 John Nash demonstrated that finite games always
have a Nash equilibrium (also called a strategic
equilibrium). Nash equilibrium is a list of strategies, one
for each player, which has the property that no player can
unilaterally change his/her strategy and get a better payoff.
This is the central concept of non-cooperative game theory
and has been a focal point of analysis since then. Game
theory received special attention in 1994 with the awarding
of the Nobel Prize in economics to John Nash, John
Harsanyi and Reinhardt selton.
3. TERMINOLOGIES OF GAME THEORY

The different terminologies that are associated with the
game theory are now defined.
1. Players: A player is an agent who makes decisions in a
game. That is there are two players in a game. The players
maybe any two companies (for e.g. Company A and
company B) competing for tenders, two countries were
planning for trade gains in a third country, two persons
bidding in a game, etc.
2. Strategy: It is a course of action taken by a player, for
e.g., giving computer furnitures free of cost, giving 30%
additional hardware, gibing special prize, etc., while
selling computer hard ware. In a game in strategic form, a
strategy is one of the given possible actions of a player. In
an extensive game, a strategy is a complete plan of choices,
one for each decision point of the player. The strategy can
be further classified into pure strategy and mixed strategy.
Let m be the number of strategies of player A and n be the
pi be the probability
number of strategies of player B,
of selection of the alternative i of player A, i = 1,2,3,.m.
Let q j be the probability of selection of the alternative j of
player B, for j = 1,2,3..n. The sum of the probabilities of
selection of various alternatives of each of the players is
m
equal to 1 as shown below.
pi 1 & q j 1 .
i1
j 1
(i)Pure strategy: If a player selects a particular strategy

with a probability of 1, then that strategy is known as a
pure strategy. This means that the player is selecting that
particular strategy alone ignoring his remaining strategies.
If player A follows a pure strategy, then only one of the
pi values will be equal to 1 and the remaining pi values
will be equal to 0. A sample set of probabilities of selection
of the alternatives for player A is shown below:
p1 0 , p2 1 , p3 0 . The sum of these probabilities
is equal to 1.That is
p1 + p2 + p3 =0+1+0=1.
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(ii)Mixed strategy: If a player follows more than one

strategy then the player is said to follow a mixed strategy.
But the probability of selection of the individual strategies
will be less than one and their sum will be equal to one.
q1 0.65 , q2 0 q3 0.35 . It is clear that the sum
of
the
probabilities
is
equal
to
1.
That
is
q1 q2 q3 0.65 0 0.35 1
3. Payoff matrix: A payoff is a number, also called utility
that reflects the desirability of an outcome to a player, for
whatever reason. When the outcome is random, payoffs are
usually weighted with their probabilities. The expected
payoff incorporates the players attitude towards risk.
4. Nash equilibrium: A Nash equilibrium also called
strategies equilibrium, is a list of strategies, one for each
player, which has the property that no player can
unilaterally change his strategy and get a better payoff.
5. Perfect information: A game has perfect information
when at any point in time only one player makes a move,
and knows all the actions that have been made until then.
6. Dominating strategy: A strategy dominates another
strategy of a player if it always gives a better payoff to that
player, regardless of what the other players are doing. It
weakly dominates the other strategy if it is always at least
as good.
7. Rationality: A player is said to be rational if he seeks to
play in a manner which maximizes his own payoff. It is
often assumed that the rationality of all players is common
knowledge.
8. Strategic form: A game in strategic form, also called
normal form, is a compact representation of a game in
which players simultaneously choose their strategies. The
resulting payoffs are presented in a table with a cell for
each strategy combination.
9. Zero-sum game: A game is said to be zero-sum if for
any outcome, the sum of the payoffs to all players is zero.
In a two-player zero-sum game, one players gain is the
other players loss, so their interests are diametrically
opposed.
10. Two-person zero-sum game : In a game with two
players, if the gain of one player is equal to the loss of
another player, then that game is called two-person zerosum game.
11. Maximum Principle: This principle maximizes the
minimum guaranteed gains of player A. The minimum
gains with respect to different alternatives of A,
irrespective of Bs alternatives are obtained first. The
maximum of these minimum gains is known as the
maximin value and the corresponding alternatives are
called as maximin strategy.
12. Minimax Principle: This principal minimizes the
maximum losses. The maximum losses with respect to
different alternatives of player B, irrespective of player As
alternatives, are obtained first. The minimum of these
maximum losses is known as the minimax value and the
corresponding alternatives are called as minimax strategy.
13. Saddle Point: In a game, if the maximum value is
equal to the minimax value, then the game is said to have
a saddle point. The interesting cell corresponding to these
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values is known as the saddle point. If the game has a
saddle point, then each player has a pure strategy.
14. Value of the game: If the game has a saddle point,
then the value of the cell at the saddle point is called the
value of the game
4. WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

The wireless sensor network (WSN) is an emerging
technology which facilitates human life in great ways.
WSN may have many inexpensive wireless sensor nodes,
each capable of collecting, storing, processing
environmental information, and communicating with
neighboring nodes for communication. WSN used in
broad range of applications related to military and civil
applications such as target field imaging, intrusion
detection, weather monitoring, security and tactical
surveillance, distributed computing, detecting ambient
conditions like temperature, movement, sound, light, or
the presence of certain objects, inventory control, and
disaster management (Akyildiz Su et al. 2002). Wireless
Sensor Networks (WSN) typically consists of a large
number of sensor nodes distributed over a certain region
and the position of sensor nodes need not be engineered or
pre-determined. They usually transform data into electric
signals, which are then processed to reveal some of the
characteristics about the phenomena where it is located.
The unique nature of the sensor networks is the
cooperative effort of sensor nodes. Wireless sensor network
can assist rescue operations by locating survivors,
identifying risky areas, and making the rescue team more
aware of the overall situation in a disaster area. The sensor
nodes have the ability to communicate either among each
other or directly to an external base station (BS). A larger
number of sensors were used for sensing over large
geographical regions with greater accuracy. The wireless
sensor nodes are the central element in a wireless sensor
network. Figure 3.1 shows the architecture of a sensor
node. The node consists of sensing, processing,
communication, and power subsystems. They may also
have additional application dependent components such as
a location finding system, power generator and mobilize.
Sensing units are usually composed of two sub units:
sensors and Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs).
ISSN 2278-6856
energy and performance. There are several processors such

as microcontrollers, digital signal processors, applicationspecific integrated circuits, and Field Programmable Gate
Arrays. A transceiver unit contains both transmitter and
receiver which transmit/receive to and from the network.
One of the most important components of a sensor node is
the power unit and this unit may also be supported by a
power scavenging unit such as solar cells. Most of the
sensor network, routing techniques and sensing tasks
require the knowledge of location with high accuracy.
Thus, it is common that a sensor node has a location
finding system. A mobilize may sometimes be needed to
move sensor nodes when it is required to carry out the
assigned tasks. All of these subunits may need to fit into a
matchbox-sized module (Intanagonwiwat et al. 2000) and
the required size may be smaller than even a cubic
centimeter (Potties and Kaiser 2000) which is light enough
to remain suspended in air. The sensor nodes are usually
scattered in a sensor field, each of these scattered sensor
nodes has the capabilities to collect and route data to the
sink (Base Station) by a multihop infrastructure less
architecture as shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2 The Communication Architecture of Sensor

Network
The sink may communicate with the user (task manager)
node through the Internet or Satellite. The protocol stack
used by the sink and all sensor nodes is given in Figure
3.3. This protocol stack combines power efficiency, routing
awareness, data integration and network participation. The
protocol stack consists of the application layer, transport
layer, network layer, data link layer, physical layer, power
management plane, mobility management plane and task
management plane.
Figure 3.1 Architecture of a Sensor Node

The analog signals produced by the sensors based on the
observed phenomenon are converted to digital signals by
ADC, and then fed in to processing unit (Akyildiz Su et al.
2002). The processing unit plays the vital role in a sensor
node and the choice of a processor unit determines the
tradeoff between flexibility and efficiency in terms of both
Figure 3.3 The Sensor Networks Protocol Stack
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The physical layer addresses the needs of simple and
efficient modulation, transmission/receiving techniques
and also it is responsible for frequency selection, carrier
frequency generation, signal detection and data encryption.
The choice of a good modulation scheme is critical for
reliable communication in a sensor network. The data link
layer is responsible for the multiplexing of data streams,
data frame detection, medium access and error control.
The Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol must be
power-aware and able to minimize collision with
neighbors broadcasts. The network layer takes care of
power efficiency of the node and route data supplied by the
transport layer. The transport layer helps to maintain the
flow of data if the sensor networks application requires it.
This layer is especially needed when access to the system is
planned through Internet or other external networks.
Depending on the sensing tasks, different types of
application software can be built and used on the
application layer. In addition, the power, mobility, and
task management planes monitor the power, movement,
and task distribution among the sensor nodes. These
planes help the sensor nodes to coordinate the sensing task
and reduce the overall power consumption.
5. MOTIVATIONS
In recent years, WSN has mainly used in applications such
as health, military and environmental monitoring. This
growth has been fueled by the widespread popularity in
wireless communication. However, there are limits due to
energy constraint. Owing to the energy level variation, the
network lifetime gets reduced; therefore considerable effort
has been invested in making more efficient use of it. To
maximize the network lifetime, the energy consumption of
node should be reduced. Recently a major research focus
in this area and many authors are currently focusing on
the design of power aware protocols and algorithms for
sensor networks, apart from these protocols the researchers
has been focused on coverage area of sensor nodes
through the use of centralized and localized k-coverage
algorithms. These proposed algorithms states that,
depending on the network size, the network is reconfigured
to any one of the algorithm to minimize the wastage of
energy. Among many alternative approaches, game theory
has been increasing applied in the design of wireless
sensor networks, thus the scope of this paper is restricted
to the use of game theory for wireless sensor networks.
From 2003 to 2013, about 390 research papers with topics
on or closely related to game theory for WSN were
published. Among the variety of developed methods using
GT, the main differences and remarkable features can be
briefly summarized below. Cooperative game theory
provides analytical tools to study the behavior of rational
player when they cooperate and consider the utility of all
the players. [6, 7]. Non cooperative game theory also
covers a broad range of applications in WSN [8, 9]. In non
cooperative game theory, the nodes buy, sell, and
consumer goods in response to the prices that are exhibited
in a virtual market. A node attempts to maximize its profit
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for taking a series of actions. Whether or not a node

receives a profit is decided by the success of the action.
Note that non cooperative game theory is mainly focused
on each users individually utility rather than the utility of
the whole network. On the contrary, cooperative game
theory can achieve general pareto-optimal performance
and maximize the entire networks payoff while
maintaining fairness. In addition to cooperative and non
cooperative game theories, repeated game theory is
concerned with a class of dynamic games, in which a game
is played for numerous times and the players can observe
the outcome of the previous game before attending the next
repetition.
6. GAME THEORY
NETWORKS
IN
WIRELESS
SENSOR
5.1 COMPONENTS OF A GAME

A game is a set of three fundamental components: a set of
players, a set of strategies, and a set of payoffs. Players or
nodes are the decision takers in the game. The strategies
are the different choices available to nodes. Finally, a
utility function (payoffs) decides the all possible outcomes
for each player. Table 1. Shows typical components of a
wireless sensor networking game.
Table 1: Components of a wireless sensor networking
game
Components of a
Elements of a wireless
game
sensor networks
Players
Nodes in the wireless

sensor network
A set of strategies
A modulation scheme,
Coding
rate,
transmit
power level, etc.

A set of payoffs
Performance
metrics
(e.g. Throughput, Delay,

SNR, etc.)
Game theory has emerged in divers recent works related to
communication networks, cognitive radio networks,
wireless sensor networks, resource allocation and power
control.
5.2 GAME CHARACTERISTICS
There are several game theory models which can be
categorized or the basis of factors like the number of
players involved in the game, the sum of gains or losses,
the number of strategies employed in the game and it can
be designed as a one-player game, two-player game or n-
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players game. The terminology used in game theory is
inconsistent, thus different terms can be used for the same
concept in different sources. The commonly used Game
theory methods for solving WSN problems and several
main terminologies are listed in Table 2.
Game Theory
Common Terminologies in
Methods
Game Theory
(i) Cooperative game theory
(i)
Nash Equilibrium
(ii) Non cooperative game
(ii)
Pareto Optimal
(iii)
Nash
theory
(iii) Repeated game theory
(iv)Coalitional game theory
(v)Evolutionary
Bargaining
Solution
game
theory
(iv)
Shapley Value
(v)
Core
(vi)Guar game theory

(vii)Bargaining game theory
(viii)Dynamic game theory
(ix)TU
game
(x)NTU
game
represented diagrammatically using a game table that is

called the normal form or strategic form of the game. In
the dynamic game players involve strategic situations in
which there is a strict order of play. Players take turns to
make their moves, and they know what players who have
gone before them have done. Dynamic games are most
easily illustrated using game trees, which are generally
referred to as the extensive form of a game. The trees
illustrate all of the possible actions that can be taken by all
of the players and also indicate all of the possible outcomes
from the game. According to whether the players have full
information of all payoff relevant characteristics about the
opponents or not, the non-cooperative game can be
classified into two types: Complete information and
incomplete information games. In the former each player
has all the knowledge about others characteristics,
strategy spaces, payoff functions, and so on, but this is not
so for the latter. The following Table 1.Shows four kinds
of non cooperative games, corresponding equilibrium
concepts, and main research areas of the three Nobel Prize
winners.
Static Game
theory
(transferable-utility game)
theory(non-
transferable-utility game)
(xi)Ping-pong game
(xii)Zero-Sum game and Non-
(vi)
Mechanism Design
Dynamic Game
Complete
Complete
( Computational)
information
static game.
dynamic game.
(vii)Incentive compatible
game
Nash Equilibrium.
Reinhardt
John Nash (1950, 1951).
(1965).
In complete information
In
complete
information
static game.
information
dynamic
game
Bayesian
(viii)Strategy proof Mechanism

(vii) Auction
In
Zero-Sum game
(xiii)Jamming game
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(viii) Viceroy-Clarke-Groves(VCG)
Mechanism
(ix) Utility Function
complete
information
Nash
Complete information
Shelton
game.
equilibrium.
Perfect Bayesian Nash
John Harsanyi (1967-
equilibrium.
68).
Reinhardt
Shelton
(1975).
(x)
Bayesian
Nash
Equilibrium(BNE)
Table 2. Typical Game Theory methods and common

terminologies of Game Theory used in Wireless Sensor
Network.
7. NON-COOPERATIVE GAME THEORY

Non-cooperative game theory is concerned with the
analysis of strategic choice and explicitly models the
process of players making choices out of their own
interests. Non-cooperative games can be classified into a
few categories according to several criteria. According to
whether the players moves are simultaneous or not, noncooperative games can be divided into two categories:
static and dynamic games. In static game, players make
their choices of strategies simultaneously, without
knowledge of what the other players are choosing. i.e., a
game is also simultaneous when players choose their
actions in isolation, with no information about what other
players have done or will do, even if the choices are made
at different points in time. Static games are most often
Table 1: Categories of non-cooperative games,

corresponding equilibrium, and the main research areas of
the three winners of the 1995 Nobel Prize in economics.
8. APPLICATIONS
OF
NON-
COOPERATIVE GAME THEORY

WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK
IN
Non-cooperative game theory studies strategies between

interactions among competing players. In the game, a
player is called an agent and his goal is to maximize its
utility by choosing its strategy individually, in other words,
each player is selfish but rational in a non-cooperative
game. Non-cooperative game theory uses a utility function
to find the Nash Equilibrium. Non-cooperative game
theory is mainly applied in distributed resource allocation,
congestion control, power control, spectrum sharing in
cognitive radio and many others. Haksub et al. proposed a
non-cooperative game based energy efficient MAC
algorithm which makes the sensor nodes consume their
energy efficiently. Stankovicacute et al. considered the
problem of distributed convergence to a Nash Equilibrium
based on minimal information about the underlying noncooperative game. Interference problems for spectrum-
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agile networks were addressed by allowing the networks to
dynamically change channel in literature [9]. For insight
into dynamic channel-change strategies, authors modeled
the networks as autonomous players in a multistage noncooperative game- theoretic model. Here the networks are
assumed to be highly interfering, i.e., when two or more
networks exist on a single channel they cannot successfully
carry traffic. Each network seeks to minimize its time to
find a clear channel. The game-theoretic analysis reflects
the motivations and choices of independent, rational,
selfish decision makers that do not trust one another. They
analyzed appropriate game-theoretic solutions in an untrusted environment, and compare results with socially
optimal decisions that would maximize the expected
benefit of all coexisting networks in a trusted environment.
Sensor energy is limited, and the sensor is selfish but
rational in WSN. If a node cannot get some profits, it will
not perform the task. Of course, there will be some nodes
that may exaggerate their real capacities to get some more
tasks for profits. These dishonest or selfish behaviors will
seriously affect the efficiency of WSN. Therefore,
incentives should be provided to force nodes to obey the
prescribed algorithms and report truthfully their capacity.
Mechanism design in game theory can resolve this
problem. Mechanism design not only provides the right
incentives, but also to ensure the participants tell the truth.
It can balance individual interests and common interests.
In a mechanism design, strategy proof condition will make
all participants report their true value, and voluntary
participation condition can ensure that all participants are
willing to participate.
9. COOPERATIVE GAME THEORY

A cooperative game also called coalitional is a game in
which the players can make binding commitments, as is
not the case in the non-cooperative game. Analysis in
cooperative game theory is centered on coalition formation
and distribution of wealth gained through cooperation
within these two areas, finding procedures leading to
outcomes that are most likely to occur under reasonable
rationality assumptions in various game situations, and
devising solution concepts showing attractive stability
features are primary concerns in most research endeavors.
Cooperative game theory is most naturally applied to
situations arising in political science or international
relations, where concepts like power are most important.
The definition draws the usual distinction between the two
theories of games, but the real differences lies in the
modeling approach. While in non-cooperative game theory
the notion of the Nash equilibrium is pervasive in
capturing most aspects of stability, in cooperative game
theory there is no solution concept dominating the field in
such a way? Instead, there is a multiplicity of solutions,
which is not due to the weakness of the theory, but rather
to the inherent diversity of conflict situations into which it
attempts to provide insight. Moreover, the main focus of
the non-cooperative game is individual rationality and
individual optimal strategy, but the cooperative game
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emphasizes collective rationality, fairness, effectiveness,

etc., which mean different things to different people.
10. APPLICATIONS OF COOPERATIVE

GAME THEORY IN WIRELESS SENSOR
NETWORK
To reduce the whole WSNs energy consumption and
prolong its lifetime, some nodes will cooperate and form a
coalition. Coalitional game theory is one of the most
important cooperative game theory, thus, cooperative game
theory is sometimes denoted as coalitional game theory [7].
For a WSN obeying the cooperative game theory,
cooperative groups are formed and players choose
strategies to maximize their own groups utility, coalitional
game theory allows a reduction of power consumption in
WSN by forming coalitions. Saad et al. proposed a merger
and split approach for coalition formation, which
calculates the value of the utility function for every
possible permutation of nodes and finds groups with the
best utility value. Here, grouping is treated as basic method
to organize sensor nodes for cooperation between nodes. In
this formation, the nodes know nothing about the
grouping. On the other hand, a group leader is assigned as
a special node which processed the information of the
newly entered sensor nodes and decides who will be their
possible group member in a group. We can group the
nodes in two ways for different applications
All the sensor nodes have similar sensed data could be
placed in the same group, for example, sensing
application.
The sensor nodes with shorter distances between them
are allocated in the same group, for example, sending
data from a source node to the sink.
Apt and Wetzel proposed a generic approach for coalition
formation through simple merge and split operations.
Cooperative game theory can be further categorized into
two branches:
Transferable-utility game (TU game) - In TU game
the payoff of the measurement allocation game is
transferable.
Non-transferable-utility game (NTU game) In NTU
game the payoff for each agent in a coalitional
depends only on the actions selected by the agents in
the coalition.
Shapley value is derived from the solution concept in
cooperative game theory which was defined by
Shapley[15]. It is one of the most important solution
concepts in cooperative game theory and a representative
single-valued solution concept in the theory of cooperative
games. An agents Shapley value gives an indication of its
prospects of playing the game in cooperative game theory.
It is useful when there is a need to allocate the worth that a
set of players can achieve if they agree to cooperate. The
Shapley value was defined for TU games and NTU games
in regard to conflicts among players. Gharehshiran and
Krishnamurthy used cooperative game theory as a tool to
devise a distributed dynamic coalition formation algorithm
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in which nodes autonomously decide which coalition to
join while maximizing their feasible sleep times. The
sleep time allocation problem is formulated as a nonconvex cooperative game and the concept of the core is
exploited to solve this problem.
11. THE CAUSE FOR THE RELEVANCE OF THE
GAME
THEORY
TO
WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING
Ad hoc networks have occupied a preeminent place in the
wireless communications and networking literature for the
last several years. An ad hoc network is a self-configuring,
multihop network in which there is no central authority.
Thus, every aspect of the configuration and operation of an
ad hoc network must be completely distributed.
Furthermore, nodes in an ad hoc network are often
severely energy and power constrained. In emerging
wireless networks, such as sensor networks, mesh
networks, and pervasive computing systems, many of these
same features decentralized operation, self configuration,
and power energy awareness are often desirable. Game
theory, as we have seen, is the study of the interaction of
autonomous agents. At this point, it should be clear how
game theory may be of help when analyzing modern wire
networks. In a modern wireless sensor networks each node
running a distributed protocol must make its own
decisions. These decisions may be constrained by the rules
of algorithms of a protocol, but ultimately each node will
have some lee way in setting parameters or changing the
mode of operation. These nodes, then, are autonomous
agents, making decisions about transmit power, packet
forwarding, back off time, and so on. In some cases, nodes
may seek the greater good of the network as a whole. In
other cases, nodes may behave selfishly, looking out for
only their own users interests. In a final case, nodes may
behave maliciously, seeking to ruin networks performance
for other users. In the second and third cases, the
application of game theory may be straight forward, as
game theory traditionally analyzes situations in which
player objectives are in conflict. In the first case, node
objectives may be aligned (as all players seek the greater
good of the network), but game theory may still offer
useful insights. Even when nodes have shared objectives,
they will each have a unique perspective on the current
network state, leading to possible conflicts regarding the
best course of action.
12. HOW ONE
PROPERLY
CAN
USE
GAME
THEORY
There are many potential pitfalls on the road to the

application of game theory to wireless communications
and networking. One of these pitfalls has already been
mentioned-mistaking a simple optimization problem for a
game. As we have already discussed, a problem is only a
game if there are multiple agents involved in making
decisions. In some cases, it may be that artificially creating
multiple agents to play a game is worthwhile; in many
cases, though, one would be better served by using an
optimization algorithm or technique. So, if it is not clear
ISSN 2278-6856
who the agents are, one should carefully consider whether

or not the use of game theory is warranted. A second
common mistake in applications of game theory is
confusion between the theories of cooperative and noncooperative games. In this article, we focus on noncooperative games, which have been primary in the study
of game theory for the last 25 years or so. Perhaps, the
most common mistake among legitimate applications of
game theory, though, is a failure to clearly define the game
and the setting in which it is played. Who are the players
of the game? What actions are available to the players?
What are the players objectives? Does equilibrium exist
for the game? Is it unique? Is there a dynamic process by
which players update their strategies? If so, what is it and
is it guaranteed to converge? Finally, there are two general
philosophies on applying game theory, and it is
extremely important to consider which philosophy you are
using. The first philosophy might be called a direct
application of game theory. In this philosophy, the users
actual preferences are said to be modeled by the players
utility functions. The second philosophy might be called an
engineering application of game theory. This philosophy
assumes that the engineer is capable of programming the
devices in the system to behave as if they are maximizing a
chosen utility function. Since the engineer chooses the
utility function, it can be whatever the engineer desire.
13. CONCLUSION
Game theory is the study of how players should rationally
play games, and it is a powerful tool in many areas, such
as war, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, biology,
and communications, networking and so on where the
conflict and cooperation exist. In this article we propose a
game model to interpret the working mechanism and also
point out the some directions that deserve study. Our
results show that game theory is an appropriate tool to
research and analyze the performance of wireless sensor
networks. Of course, most networks are enormously
complex, it is usually impossible to delineate all
conceivable strategies and to say what outcomes they lead
to, and it is not easy to assign payoffs to any given
outcome. However, by building and analyzing a simple
game that models some important features of the complex
network, we can gain insight into the original situation,
which is just what we expect in many cases.
REFERENCES
[1.] R.J.Aumann and M.Maschler,Game theoretic
analysis of a bankruptcy problem from the Talmud
J.Econ. Theory, vol 36, pp 195-213, 1985.
[2.] P.Walker, An outline of his history of game theory,
Available
at:
http://William
king.www.drekel.edu/top/class /histf.html April 1995.

[3.] A.B.Mackenzie and Stephen B.Wicker, Game theory
and the design of self-configuring, Adaptive wireless
networks-IEEE communication, Nov 2001.
Page 20

ISSN 2278-6856
[4.] S.Metha and K.S.Kwak, Application of game theory

to wireless sensor networks- Inha university, Korea.
[5.] Garth.V.Crosby, Niki Pissinou, Evolution of
cooperation in multi-class wireless sensor networks32nd IEEE conferences on local computer networks.
[6.] Erik Pertovt, Tomax javornik, Michael Mohorcic,
Game
theory application
for
performance
optimization in wireless networks-pp287-292, 2011.
[7.] Gengzhong zheng, Study on the power control of
wireless sensor networks based on Game theoryJournal of information and computational science
7:4(2010) 957-964.
[8.] Pedro O.S.Vaz De Melo, Cesar Fernandes, Raquel
A.F.Mini,
Aotonio.
A.F.Loureiro
and
Virigilio.A.F.Almeda,Game theory in wireless sensor
networks.
[9.] Renita Machado, Sirin Tekinay, A survey of game
theoretic approaches in wireless sensor networkscomputer networks 52 (2008), pp 3047-3061.
[10.] J.F.Nash, Equilibrium points in n-person game
Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A. vol.36, no.1, pp.48-49,
January 1950.
[11.] J.John F.Nash, The bargaining problem,
Econometrica, vol.18, no.2, pp.155-162, April 1950.
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