Matrix based Key Pre – Distribution Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are used in various applications now-a-days. As they are deployed in open area, there is a need for key management in order to protect the information stored in sensor nodes. To address this problem, we use key pre-distribution scheme. In this paper, we propose a new scheme based on symmetric matrix and maximum rank distance (MRD) codes where the size of the symmetric matrix is kept constant to reduce the memory requirement at each node. Some information about the matrix G and matrix A is stored in sensor nodes to generate secret key between them and for secure communication. Only two messages are required to generate a secret key between two nodes and thus it reduces the communication overhead. This scheme has greater network connectivity and scalability. Newly deployed nodes can generate a key without changing any information on previously deployed nodes. To provide additional security, the final result from key generation scheme is applied to the division remainder hash function and the resultant value is used as the secret key between the nodes. KeywordsKey Pre-Distribution, Matrix, Security, Sensor Node, Less Memory, Scalability.