Tree-based key predistribution for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

The establishment of secure links between neighboring nodes is one of the most challenging problems in wireless sensor networks. In this article, we present an efficient key predistribution scheme for sensor networks such that pairwise keys are defined by iterated hash computations based on a tree structure. Our scheme can be regarded as an improvement of HARPS, Ramkumar and Memon (IEEE J Sel Area Commun 23(3):611-621, 2005), or a generalization of Leighton and Micali's scheme (Lect Notes Comput Sci 773:456-479, 1994). We rigorously analyze our scheme focusing on the resiliency of the network and hash computational complexity for each node and compare the performance with existing schemes. Specifically, we show that our scheme provides stronger resiliency and requires less hash computational complexity than HARPS.