Anonymous topology discovery for multihop wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Topology discovery in wireless sensor networks typically starts by transmitting a special beacon signal from the sink. This method, although simple and efficient, reveals the location of the sink within the network. We propose an anonymous topology discovery protocol based on a different and distributed approach, where all nodes are allowed to broadcast route discovery messages. This way, the sink is able to obtain a global view of the network without disclosing its own location. It can then calculate and securely establish a route for each sensor, a process that is the topic of another one of our papers. For situations where the secrecy of the entire topology is important, we extend our basic protocol to hide the identity of individual sensors during topology discovery from all other internal and external entities, except the sink.