WSN location privacy scheme enhancement through epidemical information dissemination

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are commonly used for animal tracking. Over the years, a significant number of studies have been presented for monitoring moving targets through WSNs. At the same time the location/position information of a target should be available only to authorized entities, e.g., Animal Protection Centers, thus this information should be kept private. The iHIDE is a location privacy mechanism that uses a nongeographical routing scheme for packet delivery over WSN. In this paper we elaborate on that scheme by introducing a routing plan algorithm. We enhance iHIDE by adopting epidemical data dissemination as an enforcing privacy technique. We evaluate through simulations the scheme against other commonly used location privacy overlays in terms of network overhead and safety period and quantify the benefits stemming for its adoption.