Nidhi Verma

Abstract

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network made of thousands of sensing elements called as nodes with wireless capabilities. Their application is varied and diverse ranging from military to domestic and household. As the world of self-organizing sensor networks tip to the edge of maximum utilization, their wider deployment is adding pressure on the security front. Powerful laptops and workstations make it more challenging for small sensors. In addition, there are many security challenges in WSN, e.g- confidentiality, authentication, freshness, integrity etc. Contributions of this work are as follows: “Symmetric” security implementation: This thesis work designs a symmetric-key based security in sensor hardware in the Link layer of sensor network protocols. Link Layer security can protect a wireless network by denying access to the network itself before a user is successfully authenticated. This prevents attacks against the network infrastructure and protects the network from devastating attacks. “Public key” implementation in sensor hardware: Asymmetric key techniques are attractive for authentication data or session keys. Traditional schemes like RSA require considerable amounts of resources which in the past has limited their use. This thesis has implemented Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in Mica2 hardware, which is an approach to public-key cryptography based on the mathematics of elliptic curves. Quantitative overhead analysis: This thesis work analyzes the wireless communication overhead (No. of packets transmitted) vs the (transmit and receive) energy consumed in mJoules and memory storage overhead (bytes) for ECC as compared to the symmetric counterpart for the implemented WSN security protocols.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Sensor networks--Evaluation; Computer networks--Security measures

Publication Date

12-11-2006

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

Computer Engineering (KGCOE)

Advisor

Hu, Fei

Advisor/Committee Member

Lukowiak, Marcin

Advisor/Committee Member

Reddy, Pratapa

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: TK7872.D48 V47 2006

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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