Fast-Refreshing Tree-Based Group Key Agreement for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

With the proliferation of group-oriented applications in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), users need suitable group key agreements to secure communication between group members. Because of users' mobility, group members join their group or leave frequently in MANETs. Due to each MANET has a unique, specific purpose, there typically is no central management mechanism. The utilization of resource, such as bandwidth, is limited. Furthermore, a user's wireless device is usually equipped only with limited battery power. Consequently, power consumption also affects the life period of a MANET. Due to these challenges, MANETs require a group key agreement which can generate and refresh a group key quickly and efficiently. In this paper, we propose a Fast-reacting Tree-based Group key agreement for MANETs, FTG-M, which supports efficient message transmission and low communication overhead in order to refresh group keys quickly. In addition, we utilize a new idea, a virtual tree, to reduce communication overhead. We compare the performance of FTG-M with other schemes, so as to show the reduction of communication and computation overhead.