Low-power group key agreement for heterogeneous wireless networks

ABSTRACT

Heterogeneous wireless networks are gaining popularity as users can be connected to these networks without any cables and even when they are mobile. The high power nodes in heterogeneous wireless networks do not have energy constraints but the user nodes, which can be large in numbers, are usually low power energy constrained devices. Therefore, the GKA protocol used to secure group communications in these networks has to take into consideration both the low power nature of the user nodes and the network size. In this paper, we present an energy efficient and scalable GKA protocol, which uses our proposed Contributory Ring-Centralized (ContRi-Central) group model. Besides providing complexity analysis, we also show the computational and communication energy consumption costs analysis of all nodes running our proposed scheme and four other efficient GKA protocols. Both the complexity analysis and energy consumption costs analysis indicate that our proposed scheme is more efficient and suitable for heterogeneous wireless networks.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.0 General
          Subjects: Security and protection (e.g., firewalls)

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

General Terms:
Performance, Security

Keywords:
energy-efficiency, group communication, group key agreement, heterogeneous wireless networks, security