Secure neighbour authentication in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Applications of wireless sensor networks often include sensitive information such as enemy movement on the battlefield or the location of personnel in a building. Lacking security services in the routing protocols, WSNs are vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. A secure routing in WSN must address several challenges: vulnerable wireless communication, highly resource-constrained senor nodes in terms of processing power, storage, and battery life, and the risk of physically captured. However, a few of existing routing protocols for WSNs have been designed with security as a goal. As sensors communicate in a multi-hop fashion, identification of secure neighbours in a mobile topology is critical for routing. Since these devices are resource constrained, we propose a secure neighbour authentication protocol based on a variant of HB, an authentication protocol for RFID devices. Simulation results show that the routing protocol SHLAODV is secure and energy efficient.