Quantum wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Security in sensor networks, though an important issue for widely available wireless networks, has been studied less extensively than other properties of these networks, such as, for example, their reliability. The few security schemes proposed so far are based on classical cryptography. In contrast, the present paper develops a totally new security solution, based on quantum cryptography. The scheme developed here comes with the advantages quantum cryptography has over classical cryptography, namely, effectively unbreakable keys and therefore unbreakable messages. Our security system ensures privacy of the measured data field in the presence of an intruder listening to messages broadcasted in the field. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.