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A random key establishment scheme for multi-phase deployment in large-scale distributed sensor networks

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Abstract

Several symmetric-key distribution mechanisms are proposed in the literature, but most of them are not scalable or they are vulnerable to a small number of captured nodes. In this paper, we propose a new dynamic random key establishment mechanism in large-scale distributed sensor networks, which supports deployment of sensor nodes in multiple phases. In the existing random key distribution schemes, nodes do not refresh their own keys, and thus, the keys in their key rings remain static throughout the lifetime of the network. One good property of our dynamic key distribution scheme is that the already deployed nodes in a deployment phase refresh their own keys in key rings before another deployment phase occurs. The strength of the proposed scheme is that it provides high resilience against node capture as compared to that for the other existing random key distribution schemes. Through analysis and simulation results, we show that our scheme achieves better network performances as compared to those for the existing random key distribution schemes. Finally, we propose an extended version of our scheme for practical usefulness to support high network connectivity and resilience against node capture.

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  1. Center for Security, Theory and Algorithmic Research, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, 500032, India

    Ashok Kumar Das

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Das, A.K. A random key establishment scheme for multi-phase deployment in large-scale distributed sensor networks. Int. J. Inf. Secur. 11, 189–211 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10207-012-0162-9

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