Towards k-Connectivity in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks under Pairwise Key Predistribution

We study the secure and reliable connectivity of wireless sensor networks under the heterogeneous pairwise key predistribution scheme. This scheme was recently introduced as an extension of the random pairwise key predistribution scheme of Chan et al. to accommodate networks where the constituent sensors have different capabilities or requirements for security and connectivity. For simplicity, we consider a heterogeneous network where each of the n sensors is classified as type-1 (respectively, type-2) with probability μ (respectively, 1-μ) where 0<; μ<; 1. Each type-1 (respectively, type-2) node selects 1 (respectively, Kn) other nodes uniformly at random to be paired with; according to the pairwise scheme each pair is then assigned a unique pairwise key so that they can securely communicate with each other. We establish critical conditions on n, μ, and Kn such that the resulting network has minimum node degree of at least k with high probability in the limit of large network size. Our result constitutes a zero-one law for the minimum node degree of the recently introduced inhomogeneous random K-out graph model. This constitutes a crucial step towards establishing a similar zero-one law for the k-connectivity of the graph; i.e., for the property that the network remains connected despite the failure of any k-1 nodes or links. We present numerical results that indicate the usefulness of our results in selecting the parameters of the scheme in practical settings with finite number of sensors.