An efficient key predistribution protocol for wireless sensor networks via combinatorial design

Abstract

As Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are usually deployed in remote or even hostile environment, the adoption of security mechanism is fundamental. To achieve secure communication between sensor nodes in WSNs, it is important to establish efficient key predistribution schemes. Unfortunately, key management scheme is a challenging issue for WSNs because of the resource limitations in the sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose an efficient key management scheme for WSNs, which assigns the key spaces to sensor nodes via combinatorial design. In the scheme Finite Projective Plane is mapped to obtain efficient key distribution scheme. Connectivity, resistance against attacks, storage and communication overhead are studied analytically and computationally. Compared to related schemes, the proposed scheme performs better against compromised node attacks.