STCP: Secure Topology Control Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Hexagonal Mesh

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) based on hexagonal mesh can be able to extend the lifetime of self-configuring systems by exploiting redundancy to conserve energy while maintaining application fidelity. However, security for topology control is scarce in wireless sensor networks based on hexagonal mesh. In this paper, STCP, an energy-effective secure topology control protocol for wireless sensor networks is presented. In STCP, topology made of hexagonal cells is formed according to node locations, security for updating sensor network topology is provided by controlling new node securely adding to network with the help of one way hash chain and symmetric cryptographic key, and network energy consumption is reduced by the way that new nodes form temporal clusters. Analysis and simulation results show that STCP effectively guarantees the security of topology control in consuming less energy.