Patent · US Active

Lightweight key distribution and management method for sensor networks

US8254581B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by
2References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 19, 2011
Grant dateAug 28, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 19, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W12/06
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A lightweight security framework is disclosed that combines PKI with symmetric key cryptography to exploit the system asymmetry in hierarchical sensor networks. The framework provides protocols for public key exchange, session and group key generation, pair-wise key generation, and network resource protection in a low-cost security architecture. The security framework shifts much of the security-related computational load off of the resource-constrained sensor nodes and on to resource-rich base station nodes. The method is based on the generation and management of two kinds of symmetric keys from a set of bootstrapping asymmetric keys on each node.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.