Key Management Based On Random Key-assignment In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc network is an autonomy multi-hop network which is composed of a collection of mobile terminal devices. It is a self-organized, multi-hop routing network with no center and inconstant network topology. It is fit in military, emergency and other occasions.The communication of the mobile ad hoc network goes through a wireless channel, so there are a wide range of security threats. The traditional security mechanisms can not be used for mobile ad hoc networks. Key management mechanism is the key factor to protect the security of mobile ad hoc networks. Distributed key management strategy is based on threshold cryptography, and it separates the authority of the certification authority. Self-issued certification strategy calculates the communication key and find out a suitable certification chain with local-storage certificates.After deeply research and analysis on the existing key management machinisms of mobile Ad Hoc network, a random key assignment strategy is presented. The random key assignment strategy calculates and distributes the random key to the nodes with their node-information. It is simple, high-security, and can reduce the demand of the calculation ability of the network. A key management prototype system for mobile Ad Hoc networks is presented. And a strictly anylsis from safety, efficiency, robustness and many other aspects of this prototype system is conducted. It uses random key assignment to implement key distribution and a set of cooperation nodes to complete the key negotiation. The prototype system is of high-security, can meet the safety requirements for mobile Ad Hoc networks. The random key assignment reduces the communication traffic among key negotiation and realizes a system-wide load balancing. In addition, the ring cooperation node set achieves the dynamic adaptability and improves the robustness and scalability of the system, and it is easy to find out the hostility nodes.