Secure Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks with a Lightweight Key Management and Blockchain Approach

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are the key drivers for the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT), and promise application benefits in the areas of smart cities, smart homes, manufacturing, military, environment, and monitoring of critical infrastructure such as power generation, water supply and telecommunications. A WSN consists of a spatially distributed set of autonomous sensor nodes with sensing, computing, and wireless communication capabilities. Secure routing is a major research challenge in the design of WSNs, especially when such networks are deployed for sensitive and time-critical applications. The limited computation, communication, storage and energy capability of sensor nodes, combined with the open access nature of WSNs, makes them vulnerable to a number of attacks. Much of the previous work on secure routing in WSNs has ranged from traditional key management strategies and their enhancements, detection of malicious nodes, protection against specific types of attacks, or protection of specific areas within the WSN. The overarching objective of this research proposal is to design a secure end-to-end routing architecture for WSNs. The novelty of the research is to design lightweight algorithms for secure routing with an integration of a hybrid key management scheme and distributed hash chaining based on Blockchain. Furthermore, our approach will be applicable to a WSN with multiple base stations, and extensible to mobile nodes. The supporting partner for this proposal, Norleaf Networks Inc., is a Gatineau, Quebec-based networking and IT Solutions company, and has been active in the research and development of secure and scalable routing solutions for mobile communication systems. The outcome of this research will address a crucial area in the design and deployment of next generation WSN security protocols and will serve as a launch pad to develop seure IoT applications not only to the supporting organization but also to other Canadian industries. Furthermore, over a period of three years, this project will train valuable HQP with skill sets in the area of cyber security, IoT and Blockchain technologies.