CT-ER: Security-Resource Trade-Offs in Wireless Networks

Stevens Institute Of Technology, Hoboken NJ

Investigators

Abstract

CT-ER: Security-Resource Trade-offs in Wireless Networks 0627688 Guaranteeing security in wireless networks is challenging because of the unique problems that this environment poses, viz., highly error prone links, high variability in the error rates in these links, often limited bandwidth and finally the limited battery power of the end devices. The traditional solutions to these problems - encryption and error correction compete for the same resources and if not designed well, can work at cross-purposes to each other. Power consumption and bandwidth usage are impacted by both error correction and encryption. Therefore a holistic approach must be taken to address the fundamental trade-offs in wireless security: power consumption, error resilience, security and throughput This project uses concepts from coding theory, cryptography, renewal/reward theory, stochastic modeling etc to address the fundamental trade-offs. Specifically, this project addresses the design of error correcting encryption systems and, link state and battery power adaptive encryption. The practical aspects of the project include implementing and testing the theoretical results in battery power constrained devices. The theory-implementation loop is closed by using power measurements to derive mathematical models for power consumption and then feeding them back to the theoretical optimization problems. The protocols and algorithms developed in this project will impact resource constrained wireless security and sensor network based applications. Some of the outcomes such as power consumption modeling for encryption based secure networking could have a profound effect on low power wireless technology for secure communications.