Reducing radio energy consumption of key management protocols for wireless sensor networks

© 2004 ACM. The security of sensor networks is a challenging area. Key management is one of the crucial parts in constructing the security among sensor nodes. However, key management protocols require a great deal of energy consumption, particularly in the transmission of initial key negotiation messages. In this paper, we examine three previously published sensor network security schemes: SPINS and C&R for master-key-based schemes, and Eschenhaur-Gligor (EG) for distributed-key-based schemes. We then present two new low-power schemes, which we call BROSK and OKS as alternatives to master-key-based schemes and distributed-key-based schemes, respectively. Compared to SPINS and C&R protocols, BROSK can reduce energy consumption by up to 12X by reducing the number of data transmissions in the key negotiation process. Compared with EG, OKS reduces energy by up to 96% and reduces memory requirements by up to 78%.