Secure Adaptive Topology Control for Wireless Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks

• Main Authors: Yen-Chieh Ouyang, Chih-Yu Wen, Yu-Wei Li, Ching-Tsung Hsueh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2010-02-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: secure communication protocols; adaptive topology control; sensor networks; quarantine region
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/10/2/1251/

This paper presents a secure decentralized clustering algorithm for wireless ad-hoc sensor networks. The algorithm operates without a centralized controller, operates asynchronously, and does not require that the location of the sensors be known a priori. Based on the cluster-based topology, secure hierarchical communication protocols and dynamic quarantine strategies are introduced to defend against spam attacks, since this type of attacks can exhaust the energy of sensor nodes and will shorten the lifetime of a sensor network drastically. By adjusting the threshold of infected percentage of the cluster coverage, our scheme can dynamically coordinate the proportion of the quarantine region and adaptively achieve the cluster control and the neighborhood control of attacks. Simulation results show that the proposed approach is feasible and cost effective for wireless sensor networks.