SECURE ADAPTIVE ROUTING PROTOCOL (SARP) FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS (WSNs)

The Secure Adaptive Routing Protocol (SARP) for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) creates secure, adaptive-to-security-failures, multi-path routing protocol which exploits the trustworthiness metrics, respects the computational, communicational and memory limitations of wireless sensor nodes. SARP relies on a comprehensive and multi-dimensional distributed evaluation of the trust level of nodes, detection of adversary nodes, reliable propagation of trustworthiness metrics, and defenses for the routing protocol and the trust propagation. This trust evaluation and propagation are performed according to the decision maker’s specific intent or service from the WSNs and depending on the mission requirements, and are aimed at exploiting the most trusted and reliable information to provide the optimal routing. SARP is a multi-path cost-based distributed routing algorithm, which uses the proposed trustworthiness metrics as routing costs to calculate the most secure and reliable paths in the network. SARP quickly adapts a new route in case of a security failure and propagates this security failure information to the nodes as quickly and efficiently as possible. SARP contributes to the situational awareness capabilities of tactical WSNs by providing the cost-aware secure routing dimension to the sensor systems as well as providing scalable, dynamic, energy-efficient and robust solutions against security failures. BENEFIT: SARP will see near-term commercial opportunities in the places where the challenges to secure distributed wireless sensor networking are most difficult in specific scenarios for the Military, Department of Defense, and Homeland Security. SARP is envisioned to merge the capabilities of various sensor motes via a comprehensive secure protocol design for candidate applications such as battlefield awareness, enemy vehicle tracking, homeland infrastructure protection, and surveillance. SARP will support mobile sensor networks, where there is a need to maintain the trust at a very high level so as to be able to rely on the collected information in life threatening situations. Therefore SARP will enhance situational awareness capabilities and will provide support for trusted sensor network applications and enable the collection of trusted actionable intelligence. As SARP matures it will target the larger markets of wireless sensor networks in industrial & commercial applications (ex. Hotel room thermostats, factory automation, etc.). These markets require a secure sensor network less for privacy, but to maintain a high level of cost effectiveness. To reach these high cost efficiency levels, the sensor network must be power efficient, dynamic, and adapt to both attempts from unauthorized manipulation and resiliency to node failures. SARP is being designed with all these capabilities and more. Thus it will meet the needs of these markets easily.