An Efficient Authentication and Key Management Protocol for Hierarchical Ad Hoc Sensor Networks

Despite extensive research on flat ad hoc networks, meeting satisfactory security levels in sensor networks presents many problems. The main reason is that these networks are typically designed based on hierarchal structures. In this paper, we propose an efficient scheme for authentication and key management in hierarchical ad hoc sensor networks using symmetric polynomials. In the proposed method, the processing requirements and traffic load are proportional to the processing capability and required bandwidth in each layer. An ad hoc node at the lowest level of the hierarchy uses symmetric cryptography. With more processing capabilities, entities in higher layers use public key cryptography. Performance results show the superiority of the proposed method in comparison with previous approaches developed for hierarchical ad hoc sensor networks.