Trust estimation in peer-to-peer network using BLUE

Free-riding is a major problem in peer to peer networks. One of the ways to resolve this problem is by using a reputation management system. Each node provides resources to nodes with higher reputation, as he himself gains in reputation in proportion to the receiver’s reputation. So, free-riding becomes a non-optimal strategy as there is no resulting reputation gain, and hence no available resources over time. An efficient and accurate trust estimation method in the reputation management system is needed for effectiveness of this strategy. The existing trust estimation methods generally do not consider the uncertainties in the inputs. In this paper, we propose a new trust estimation method using BLUE (Best Linear Unbiased Estimator) that also takes into account the uncertainties in the input variables. The results show that using the proposed estimation method, effective trust estimation is achieved in the peer-to-peer resource sharing systems. Thus the free-riding can be countered more effectively.