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Nodes in a wireless sensor network are normally constrained by hardware and environmental conditions and face challenges of reduced computing capabilities and system security vulnerabilities. This fact calls for special requirements for network protocol design, security assessment models, and energy-efficient algorithms. Data aggregation is an effective energy conservation technique, which removes redundant information from the data aggregated from neighbor sensor nodes. How to further improve the effectiveness of data aggregation plays an important role in improving data collection accuracy and reducing the overall network energy consumption. Unfortunately, sensor nodes are normally deployed in an open environment and thus are subject to various attacks conducted by adversaries. Consequently, data aggregation brings new challenges to wireless sensor network security. In this article, we propose a novel secure data aggregation solution based on autoregressive integrated moving average model, a time series analysis technique, to prevent private data from being learned by adversaries. We leverage the autoregressive integrated moving average model to predict the data volume in sensor nodes, and update and synchronize the model as needed. The experimental results demonstrate that our model provides accurate predictions and that, compared with competing methods, our solution achieves better security, lower computation and communication costs, and better flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various protocols have been proposed in the area of wireless sensor networks in order to achieve network-wide time synchronization. A large number of proposed protocols in the literature employ a message passing mechanism to make sensor node clocks tick in unison. In this paper, we first classify Message Passing based Time Synchronization (MPTS) protocols and then analyze them based on different metrics. The classification is based on the following three criteria: structure formation of the network affected by the synchronization protocol, frequency of synchronization process (synchronization interval), and synchronization message overhead. Proposed protocols are analyzed and evaluated from different perspectives based on available data. A comparison table of the reviewed protocols is presented according to the evaluation metrics. Finally, some potential methods will be proposed to improve the synchronization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secure key distribution is one of the most important building blocks to ensure confidentiality in wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs). However, the key distribution becomes a challenging task when keys have to be relayed by compromised nodes in order to establish secure communication between distant nodes. To deal with this issue, we propose in this paper a key distribution scheme, named key distribution using fragmentation and assimilation (KDFA). In this scheme, the sender node splits the actual key into fragments and sends them through intermediate actor nodes towards the receiver node. The latter assimilates these key fragments using XOR operation to reconstruct the actual key. In this case, attacker cannot retrieve the actual key and only gets the key fragment. KDFA is composed of two parts: (a) key distribution protocol (KDP) to distribute the key using intra-actor and interactor communication scenarios and (b) key fragmentation algorithm (KFA) to slice the key using binary calculations. KDFA execution has been specified and formally verified using Rubin logic. Moreover, the performance and the resilience of the proposed protocol are further analyzed through extensive simulations using ns-2.35. Results show that KDFA is resilient against actor node compromise and key exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks (EH-WSNs) represent an interesting new paradigm where individual nodes forming a network are powered by energy sources scavenged from the surrounding environment. This technique provides numerous advantages, but also new design challenges. Securing the communications under energy constraints represents one of these key challenges. The amount of energy available is theoretically infinite in the long run but highly variable over short periods of time, and managing it is a crucial aspect. In this paper we present an adaptive approach for security in multihop EH-WSNs which allows different nodes to dynamically choose the most appropriate energy-affecting parameters such as encryption algorithm and key size, providing in this way energy savings. In order to provide evidence of the approach’s feasibility in a real-world network, we have designed and implemented it as extension of on-demand medium access control (ODMAC), a receiver-initiated (RI) MAC protocol specifically designed and developed to address the foundational energy-related needs of Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensor networks feature low-cost sensor devices with wireless network capability, limited transmit power, resource constraints, and limited battery energy. Cooperative routing exploits the broadcast nature of wireless medium and transmits cooperatively using nearby sensor nodes as relays. It is a promising technique that utilizes cooperative communication to improve the communication quality of single-antenna sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose a cooperative transmission scheme for underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) to enhance the network performance. Cooperative diversity has been introduced to combat fading. Cooperative UWSN (Co-UWSN) is proposed, which is a reliable, energy-efficient, and high throughput routing protocol for UWSN. Destination and potential relays are selected that utilize distance and signal-to-noise ratio computation of the channel conditions as cost functions. This contributes to sufficient decrease in path losses occurring in the links and transferring of data with much reduced path loss. Simulation results show that Co-UWSN protocol performs better in terms of end-to-end delay, energy consumption, and network lifetime. Selected protocols for comparison are energy-efficient depth-based routing (EEDBR), improved adaptive mobility of courier nodes in threshold-optimized depth-based routing (iAMCTD), cooperative routing protocol for UWSN, and cooperative partner node selection criteria for cooperative routing Coop (Re and dth). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive evaluation of energy efficiency of protocols under certain cost conditions is a relatively new and ill-defined concept for collaborative wireless sensor networks (CWSN). In this paper, multicriteria decision making (MCDM) theory is introduced into comprehensive evaluation of energy efficiency of clustering protocols, which is the predecessor of collaborative protocols. Parameters about energy efficiency of total network, including cost and benefit parameters, are selected to construct a metrics system for the comprehensive evaluation. Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) without criterion weight is proposed as the method of MCDM, and it can be used to select most efficient scheme among many schemes. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective and can be used in CWSN protocol selection and deployment of nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communication between network nodes within different protocol domains is often regarded simply as a black box with unknown configuration conditions in the path. We address network heterogeneity using a white box approach and focus on its interconnection processes. To achieve this purpose, a Performance Analysis Framework (PAF) is proposed which is composed of the formalization of the latter using process algebra (PA) and the corresponding teletraffic performance models. In this contribution, we target the IEEE 802.16 and IEEE 802.11 protocols. For the teletraffic models, we extend previous models for such scenario with the inclusion of the following protocol operational parameters (metrics): bit error rate (BER), packet error ratio (PER), and packet length (pl). From the framework teletraffic models, the optimal packet length (OPL), end to end throughput, delay, and packet loss are obtained. The PAF outperforms previous modeling solutions in terms of delay and throughput relative to NS3 simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless sensor Networks (WSNs) deployed in distributed Internet of Things (IoT) applications should be integrated into the Internet. According to the distributed architecture, sensor nodes measure data, process, exchange information, and perform collaboratively with other sensor nodes and end-users, which can be internal or external to the network. In order to maintain the trustworthy connectivity and the accessibility of distributed IoT, it is important to establish secure links for end-to-end communication with a strong pervasive authentication mechanism. However, due to the resource constraints and heterogeneous characteristics of the devices, traditional authentication and key management schemes are not effective for such applications. This paper proposes a pervasive lightweight authentication and keying mechanism for WSNs in distributed IoT applications, in which the sensor nodes can establish secured links with peer sensor nodes and end-users. The established authentication scheme PAuthKey is based on implicit certificates and it provides application level end-to-end security. A comprehensive description for the scenario based behavior of the protocol is presented. With the performance evaluation and the security analysis, it is justified that the proposed scheme is viable to deploy in the resource constrained WSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication and information technologies play crucial roles in the smart grid system. Wireless communications offer many unique features to utilities. Real-time capability and high efficiency under heavy load are vital capabilities for smart grid wireless communications. However, the existing medium access control (MAC) protocols for low-rate and short-range wireless transfer in the literature mainly aim to achieve the objectives of low energy consumption and self-configuration and rarely address these requirements under heavy traffic intensity. This paper presents a real-time, efficient, and lightweight MAC (RE-MAC) protocol to support smart grid applications, based on priority node polling and a hybrid scheme. The upper bounds of packet delay are determined using the embedded Markov chain method, and the simulation results demonstrate that the protocol can achieve predictable, real-time, and efficient performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose forwarding-function (FF) based routing protocol for underwater sensor networks (UWSNs): improved adaptive mobility of courier nodes in threshold-optimized depth-based-routing (iAMCTD). Unlike existing depth-based acoustic protocols, the proposed protocol exploits network density for time-critical applications. In order to tackle flooding, path loss, and propagation latency, we calculate optimal holding time (HT) and use routing metrics: localization-free signal-to-noise ratio (LSNR), signal quality index (SQI), energy cost function (ECF), and depth-dependent function (DDF). Our proposal provides on-demand routing by formulating hard threshold (Hth), soft threshold (Sth), and prime energy limit (Rprime). Simulation results verify effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed iAMCTD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While deploying sensor nodes for sensitive services, we need to focus on both the coverage and connectivity. The sensor relocation scheme had been proposed earlier, where the sensors themselves move towards the required position to make proper coverage and connection. From our experimental results, we noted that this work achieves good coverage. However, this approach fails to focus on connectivity issue due to node migration and secured communication too, which may compromise our collecting data. To address these serious issues, we proposed an efficient sensor relocation technique based lightweight integrated protocol (LIP). We have implemented and studied thoroughly our proposed work. From our experimental results, our proposed work LIP outperforms the existing sensor relocation scheme in terms of network connectivity, coverage, throughput, packet delivery fairness, energy consumption, energy loss, network resiliency, and secured communication. It is also noted that our proposed model maximizes the lifetime of wireless sensor networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless sensor networks (WSN), Sybil attack can destroy the routing and data distributed storage mechanisms through fabricating identity information of legitimate nodes. This paper presents a chain key predistribution based approach against Sybil attack. To enhance the security of common keys between neighboring nodes, during the chain key predistribution phase, our approach uses a lightweight hash function to generate several chain keys by hashing the unique identity information of every node sequentially in the trusted base station. These chain keys construct a pool of chain keys. During the pairwise key authentication establishment phase, a node-to-node chain key based authentication and exchange (CK-AE) protocol is proposed, by which each node can share the unique pairwise key with its neighboring node. The CK-AE protocol is provably secure in the universally composable security model (UCSM). Finally, we analyze our approach from the resilience of network and the performance overhead, and the results show that our approach can not only enhance the ability of resilience to Sybil attack, but also reduce the communication overhead significantly at the cost of a certain amount of computational overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel low power medium access protocol energy efficient MAC (EE-MAC) for wireless sensor network is proposed in this paper. EE-MAC targets for improving energy efficiency, delay performance and packet delivery ratio by considering various load conditions of the network. This protocol is based on the hybrid of TDMA and FDMA approaches. The novel idea behind EE-MAC is that it uses the priority concept with hybrid MAC scheduling in order to achieve its objectives. The performance of EE-MAC is obtained through simulations for various packet sizes, traffic loads, and different scenarios which show significant improvements in packet delivery ratio, energy efficiency, and delay compared to existing protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The areas of three-dimensional (3D) underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have attracted significant attention recently due to their applications in detecting and observing phenomena that cannot be adequately observed by means of two-dimensional UWSNs. However, designing routing protocols for UWSNs is a challenging task because path breakage occurs frequently due to uncertain node and link failures. In this paper, we present a Robust Routing Protocol (RRP) that aims to achieve robustness under harsh underwater conditions of 3D UWSNs. In RRP, each sensor has a data structure called backup bin, which allows to construct main backup links and auxiliary backup links for repairing failed links and ensuring normal data delivery. Moreover, sensor nodes can also enlarge their transmission range to build new links when the main routing path is not reachable through backup links. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol can reduce node and link failures' impact on metrics of packet delivery ratio, network throughput, energy consumption, and average end-to-end delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile sensor networks (MSNs) are widely used in various domains to monitor, record, compute, and interact the information within an environment. To prolong the life time of each node in MSNs, energy model and conservation should be considered carefully when designing the data communication mechanism in the network. The limited battery volume and high workload on channels worsen the life times of the busy nodes. In this paper, we propose a new energy evaluating methodology of packet transmissions in MSNs, which is based on redividing network layers and describing the synchronous data flow with matrix form. We first introduce the cache coherence layer to the protocol stack of MSNs. Then, we use a set of energy probability matrices to describe and calculate the energy consumption of each state in the protocol. After that, based on our energy model, we will give out an energy evaluating method of the MSNs design, which is suitable for measuring and comparing the energy consumption from different implements of hardware/software. Our experimental results show that our approach achieves a precision with less than 2% error and provides a credible quantitative criterion for energy optimization of data communication in MSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless sensor network, when these sensors are wrongly placed in an observation region, they can quickly run out of batteries or be disconnected. These incidents may result in huge losses in terms of sensing data from numerous sensors and their costs. For this reason, a number of simulators have been developed as tools for effective design and verification before the actual arrangement of sensors. While a number of simulators have been developed, simulation results can be fairly limited and the execution speed can be markedly slow depending on the function of each simulator. In this regard, to improve the performance of existing simulators, this research aimed to develop a parallel calculation simulator for independent sensor (PCSIS) that enables users to selectively use the GPU mode and, based on this mode, enables parallel and independent operations by matching GPU with many cores in order to resolve the slowdown of the execution speed when numerous sensor nodes are used for simulations. The PCSIS supports the GPU mode in an environment that allows the operation of compute unified device architecture (CUDA) and performs the parallel simulation calculation of multiple sensors using the mode within a short period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy harvesting technology potentially solves the problem of energy efficiency, which is the biggest challenge in wireless sensor networks. The sensor node, which has a capability of harvesting energy from the surrounding environment, is able to achieve infinitive lifetime. The technology promisingly changes the fundamental principle of communication protocols in wireless sensor networks. Instead of saving energy as much as possible, the protocols should guarantee that the harvested energy is equal to or bigger than the consumed energy. At the same time, the protocols are designed to have the efficient operation and maximum network performance. In this paper, we propose ERI-MAC, a new receiver-initiated MAC protocol for energy harvesting sensor networks. ERI-MAC leverages the benefit of receiver-initiated and packet concatenation to achieve good performance both in latency and in energy efficiency. Moreover, ERI-MAC employs a queueing mechanism to adjust the operation of a sensor node following the energy harvesting rate from the surrounding environment. We have extensively evaluated ERI-MAC in a large scale network with a realistic traffic model using the network simulator ns-2. The simulation results show that ERI-MAC achieves good network performance, as well as enabling infinitive lifetime of sensor networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]