Reliable and semi-reliable communication with authentication in mobile ad hoc networks

A typical characteristic of wireless ad hoc sensor networks is the error-proneness and, therefore, the unreliability of communication paths. The search for reliable communication methodologies in this area in combination with appropriate security mechanisms has become a main research activity in the networking community. In this paper we describe a new approach and an according protocol for usage in ad hoc networks that provides reliable as well as semi-reliable communication services. Additionally, the proposed methodology allows to ensure data integrity and message authentication. The main aspects during the development were the limitations of typical sensor nodes in terms of available resources such as storage, processing power, and energy. Our solution provides the capability of acknowledging correct receptions as well as the check of data integrity and message authentication in a single step. Therefore, a low overhead solution was created providing all the mentioned communication goals