Title: Matrix-based key pre-distribution schemes in WMNs using pre and post deployment knowledge

Authors: Yuexin Zhang; Li Xu; Xinyi Huang; Jie Li

Addresses: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Network Security and Cryptology, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China ' Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Network Security and Cryptology, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China; Key Lab of Broadband Wireless Communication and Sensor Network Technology, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Ministry of Education, China ' Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Network Security and Cryptology, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China ' Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Science City, 305-8573, Japan

Abstract: Like other types of wireless networks, wireless communication in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is vulnerable to many malicious activities. Thus it is a must to protect wireless transmission by proper security measures. As a fundamental security technology, symmetric key pre-distribution has been widely studied to ensure the security of wireless communication. This paper presents two matrix-based pairwise key establishment schemes for mesh clients. In our schemes, a mesh client only needs to pre-load an independent key seed which can be used to generate a column of secret matrix. It can establish pairwise keys with neighbour clients after mesh routers broadcast public matrices. Motivated by this heterogeneity (mesh routers are much more powerful than mesh clients, both in communication and storage), energy-consuming operations can be delegated to mesh routers to alleviate the overhead of mesh clients when they establish pairwise keys. By using pre and post deployment knowledge, neighbour mesh clients in our scheme can directly establish pairwise keys with a very light communication and storage cost.

Keywords: pairwise keys; matrix; deployment knowledge; WMNs; wireless mesh networks; wireless sensor networks; WSNs; ubiquitous computing; key pre-distribution; network security.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAHUC.2015.073438

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 2015 Vol.20 No.4, pp.262 - 273

Received: 06 Oct 2013
Accepted: 10 Feb 2014

Published online: 08 Dec 2015 *

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