Secure and Robust Clustering in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract : In many applications, sensor nodes are organized into clusters to perform efficient in-network processing (e.g., data aggregation), build scalable routing protocols, facilitate data queries, and implement efficient and scalable broadcast protocol. It is highly necessary to guarantee the trustworthiness and resilience of sensor network operations, especially when the failure of doing so could lead to catastrophic consequences. This project has made significant contributions to construct clusters securely and offered solutions and insights in building trustworthy sensor networks. In particular, the project has produced a secure and resilient approach for organizing initial clusters in sensor networks and a attack-resistant cluster head re-election protocol for rotating cluster heads securely in the network. In addition, the project also developed an efficient method to deal with DoS attacks against signature-based broadcast authentication. The project has supported one PhD student for 9 months.