An Agile Reconfigurable Key Distribution Scheme in Space Information Network

The key distribution in space information network is an important part of the key management for the security of information transportation. In this paper, an agile, reconfigurable key distribution scheme for space information network is proposed, in which the key distribution protocols are combined with the characteristics of the layered space information networking. Both asymmetric and symmetric mechanisms are integrated to serve the key management system, so that the capability of robustness and security for the key distribution becomes better. Besides, some kinds of mechanisms are presented to handle the exceptions (e.g. the satellite nodes are attacked or the ground equipment fails to work). Consequently, the performance of the system can be enforced further. In addition, the proposed schemes can mitigate the complicated computation and data transmission, so the limited resources and bandwidth of the space networking can be utilized efficiently.