A GA-BASED KEY-MANAGEMENT SCHEME IN HIERARCHICAL WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel key management scheme based on genetic algorithms to fulfill the requirement of power control, memory usage and computation security in a hierarchical wireless sensor network. We divide the scheme into three parts: the sink node, the header node and the sensor node. The sink node first uses genetic algorithms to generate appropriate key-generating functions, and then deliver them to header and sensor nodes. Each possible key-generating function is encoded as a chromosome, which is feasible if it satisfies the specified power-consumption constraint. Its fitness is set as the entropy measure for evaluating key distribution. The final key-generating functions are then gathered for rekeying. The header and the sensor nodes can then assemble common keys from, the key-generating functions for communication. The proposed scheme is simple, efficient and secures if the sensor nodes cannot be compromised within a threshold time bound. Experiments are also made to show its performance.