On the design of secure protocols for hierarchical sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are ad hoc networks comprised mainly of small sensor nodes with limited resources, and can be used to monitor areas of interest. In this paper, we propose a solution for securing heterogeneous hierarchical WSNs with an arbitrary number of levels. Our solution relies exclusively on symmetric key schemes, is highly distributed, and takes into account node interaction patterns that are specific to clustered WSNs.