Lightweight authentication-based scheme for AODV in ad-hoc networks

A mobile ad hoc network is a group of wireless mobile nodes with no infrastructure, in which individual mobile nodes are able to self organize and self configure in order to communicate within a direct wireless transmission range. However, the vulnerable nature of the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) makes them very prone to an adversary's malicious attacks such as dropping data or sending fake data etc. As the demand of MANETs is increasing day by day, the problem of security especially in the network layer must be solved appropriately and in accordance with the special characteristics of MANETs. In this paper, we present some attacks against routing in MANETs, and we focus on analyzing the working process of AODV routing protocol which is a representative protocol of on-demand routing protocols in ad-hoc. Then we propose an enhancement design to AODV based on authentication, using digital signatures, in order to prevent potential routing attacks against this protocol from intruders and malicious nodes. Finally, we compare the effectiveness of our improved protocol with some related secure routing protocols from literature, and against some well known attacks.