Jamming Games in Wireless and Sensor Networks*

In wireless sensor network applications, the nodes may have power and computing capability constraints. Jammers can impact the energy utilization of sensor nodes, by either overworking the sensors or blocking specific paths in the sensor network. This chapter investigates security aspects of networks that involve jamming. Traditionally, jamming has been viewed as a physical layer problem. The chapter aims to develop a model of jammer-network user interactions in terms of multiple layer games, where the output of a game at the lower layer is translated into a set of costs that determine the outcome of another game at the higher layer. Since the physical layer is an interface between the real transmission medium, that is, wireless channels, and upper layers in wireless networks, security issues that reside in the physical layer play a pivotal role in determining the overall security performance for any wireless network.