Lightweight trusted routing for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Communication in ad hoc network, such as wireless sensor networks (WSN), needs the use of decentralized routing algorithms requiring that several sensors behave in an expected way. This introduces vulnerabilities as the global issue of decentralized tasks depends on local behaviors and is compromised in case of failures or malicious intrusions. We propose here an adaptation of a routing protocol for WSN, the MWAC model, that introduces trust decisions to detect and avoid sensors that exhibit an incorrect behavior. The proposed trusted routing algorithms takes into account the low energy, communication and memory capacity of sensors to provide a realistic improvement of the routing robustness. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.