Securing wireless mesh networks

Security of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is critical for their deployment and management. To provide the fundamental user authentication, access control and transmission confidentiality services, authentication and key agreement (AKA) is the crucial issue. In this paper, ECC- based self-certified public key cryptosystem (ECCSCPKC) is introduced for constructing WMNs security infrastructure; and its related security schemes, with a few modifications, are used for designing the AKA protocol. The proposed scheme supports an efficient authentication and key agreement between a mesh client and a mesh router, with less cost of communication and computation resources as well as system maintenance.

Resource allocation and admission control algorithm based on non-cooperation game in wireless mesh networks

A wireless mesh network (WMN) comprises of mesh access points (MAPs), mesh routers and mesh clients (MCs), where MAPs are almost static and form the back-bone of WMNs. MCs are wireless devices and dynamic in nature, communicating among themselves over possibly multi-hop paths, with or without the help of MAPs. Security has been a primary concern in order to provide protected communication in WMNs due to the open peer-to-peer network topology, shared wireless medium, stringent resource constraints and highly dynamic environment. These challenges clearly make a case for building multi-layer security solution that achieves both broad protection and desirable network performance. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer secure protocol for routing, data exchange and ARP problems (in case of LAN based upon WMNs). Our protocol is a ticket-based ad hoc on demand distance vector (TAODV) protocol, a secure routing protocol that is based on the design of ad hoc on demand distance vector (AODV) protocol. Due to availability of the backbone, we incorporate the authentication server (AS) for the issuance of tickets which are further used for secure routing, transfer of public keys and MAC addresses in one single step. With the transfer of public keys, source and destination can easily generate their shared secret key based upon fixed Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol for data encryption and decryption. Our protocol is secure against both active and passive attacks.

Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is recently emerged network having robustness. It supports clients to communicate with different types of networks, Internet etc which provides a better service to next generation. It consists of mesh routers and mesh clients. These mesh routers are minimal mobile and mesh clients are totally mobile. The protocols of Ad hoc network are used in WMN. These protocols assume that every node is mobile. But as the mesh routers are minimal mobile or not mobile, the protocols brings overhead for the mesh routers. Our task is to relieve mesh routers using ad hoc network protocol from the overhead and define a better protocol which will fit in WMN efficiently. To do so, we've found that the existing architecture of WMN is needed to be changed slightly. We have proposed a new architecture for Wireless Mesh Network. In our proposal WMN is relieved from overhead being caused by using ad hoc network protocol. Our architecture use unicasting technique in lieu of broadcasting technique for route discovery as well as route maintenance. We will first describe the overview of WMN, its existing architecture. Later we will go to our proposed architecture.

Cognitive Radio (CR) technology constitutes a promising approach to increase the capacity of Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Using this technology, Mesh Routers (MRs) and the attached Mesh Clients (MCs) are allowed to opportunis- tically transmit on the licensed band, but under the constraint not to interfere with the Primary Users (PUs) of the spectrum. Thus, the effective deployment of CR- WMNs require that each MR must be able to: sense the current spectrum, select an available PU-free channel and perform the spectrum handoff to a new channel in case of PU arrival on the current one. How to coordinate these actions in the optimal way which maximizes the performance of the CR-WMNs while minimizing the interference to the PUs constitutes an open research issue in CR systems. In this paper, we propose an adaptive spectrum scheduling and allocation scheme which allows a MR to identify the best schedule of (i) when to sense the current channel, (ii) when to transmit, (iii) when to perform a spectrum handoff. Due the large number of parameters involved, we propose Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques to allow a MR to learn by itself the optimal balance between spectrum sensing-exploitation- exploration actions based on network feedbacks coming from the MCs. We perform extensive simulations which confirm the adaptivity and efficiency of our approach in terms of increased throughput when compared with non-learning based schemes for CR-WMNs.

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are a promising technology to provide the wireless internet connectivity. WMNs are becoming a popular choice for wireless internet service providers to offer internet connectivity as it allows a fast, easy and inexpensive network deployment. However, security in WMNs is still in its infancy. Security and privacy has been a major concern in WMNs. WMNs are susceptible to broad variety of attacks due to its open medium, dynamic topology and lack of physical security. WMNs are more vulnerable in Network layer. Several attacks are possible in the network layer. Some of the attacks have possible solutions but there is no solution for to detect Rushing attack which leads to the Denial of Service. In this paper, the authors proposed Cross-Layer Intrusion Detection System (CLIDS) for Rushing attack. We evaluated the performance of our technique using network simulator 2. Simulation results show that CLIDS has less false positive and false negative rates than single layer intrusion detection system.

Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is a multi hop low cost, with easy maintenance robust network providing reliable service coverage. WMNs consist of mesh routers and mesh clients. In this architecture, while static mesh routers form the wireless backbone, mesh clients access the network through mesh routers as well as directly meshing with each other. Different from traditional wireless networks, WMN is dynamically self-organized and self-configured. In other words, the nodes in the mesh network automatically establish and maintain network connectivity. Over the years researchers have worked, to reduce the redundancy in broadcasting packet in the mesh network in the wireless domain for providing reliable service coverage, the source node deserves to broadcast or flood the control packets. The redundant control packet consumes the bandwidth of the wireless medium and significantly reduces the average throughput and consequently reduces the overall system performance. In this paper I study the optimization problem in Wireless Mesh Networks. We have proposed a novel approach to reduce the broadcast redundant packet in the wireless mesh network. Also we have shown, a novel procedure to forward the control packet to the destination nodes and efficiently minimize the transmitted control packet in the wireless mesh cloud , that covers the domain.

This paper introduces danger theory in artificial immune system as a method of responding to danger in wireless mesh networks. It identifies the challenges in deploying Wireless Mesh networks (WMNs) and focus on secure routing as one of the key challenges in deploying WMNs. In order to implement a secure routing system, various Artificial Immune System (AIS) models were analysed. These models have been used in Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and computer security in the literature. In this paper, the authors propose to use Danger models to secure routing in WMNs. The first step in secure routing process is to identify and classify the network dangers and take necessary actions to overcome those dangers. For the classification task, we apply Self-organizing Maps (SOMs) as the classifier to classify the danger levels in WMNs. These identified danger conditions are further deployed as the warning signals for the design of secure routing protocol. The experimental results validate the proposal of applying the Danger Theory (DT) into security area and good performance is also reported by the use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) classifier.

An infrastructure wireless mesh network (WMN) is a hierarchical network consisting of mesh clients, mesh routers and gateways. Mesh routers constitute a wireless mesh backbone, to which mesh clients are connected as a star topology, and gateways are chosen among mesh routers providing Internet access. In this paper, the throughput capacity of infrastructure WMNs is studied. For such a network with Nc randomly distributed mesh clients, Nr regularly placed mesh routers and Ng gateways, assuming that each mesh router can transmit at W bits/s, the per-client throughput capacity has been derived as a function of Nc , Nr , Ng and W . The result illustrates that, in order to achieve high capacity performance, the number of mesh routers and the number of gateways must be properly chosen. It also reveals that an infrastructure WMN can achieve the same asymptotic throughput capacity as that of a hybrid ad hoc network by choosing only a small number of mesh routers as gateways. This property makes WMNs a very promising solution for future wireless networking.

The wireless mesh network is emerging as a promising technology in providing economical and scalable broadband Internet accesses to communities. The backbone of the wireless mesh network consists of mesh routers, which connect each other in an ad hoc manner via wireless links. The presence of backbone mesh routers and utilization of multiple channels and interfaces allow the wireless mesh network to have better capacity than that of the infrastructure-free ad hoc network formed by mesh clients directly. A special type of the mesh routers, referred to as gateway nodes, is capable of Internet connection, and other mesh routers and associated terminal clients have to access the Internet through the gateway nodes. In this paper, we present the analytically traceable stochastic models to characterize the average delay and throughput performance in wireless mesh networks. We model the forwarding mesh routers as an open queuing network. The analytical model takes into account the mesh router density, the random packet arrival process, the degree of locality of traffic and the collision avoidance mechanism of the IEEE802.11 DCF random access MAC. Our simulation results suggest that the analytical results are quite accurate, which can provide valuable insights in system performance and an effective guideline for the scalable design and optimization in wireless mesh networks.

The impact of interference-aware routing metrics on video streaming in Wireless Mesh Networks

This paper proposes an efficient, secure and anonymous routing protocol based on Weil pairing for wireless mesh networks (WMNs). The proposed protocol considers symmetric and asymmetric links during wireless communication in WMNs. A WMN integrates several types of wireless devices, and induces the asymmetric links that result from different transmission ranges of wireless devices. Enhancing the security and privacy of WMNs has been an important research focus in recent years. Most research on this topic has focused on providing security and anonymity for routing and data in symmetric links. However, the asymmetric links in these protocols have not been addressed. This paper proposes a novel distributed routing protocol suitable for WMNs that include symmetric and asymmetric links. The proposed protocol guarantees security, anonymity and high reliability in WMNs. The proposed protocol generates routes that are shorter than those of previous studies. The proposed scheme protects the real identities of the source and intermediate users, which remain unknown even to the mesh router, while still providing node authentication. Using the proposed protocol, mesh clients anonymously discover a secure route to the mesh router. This protocol also ensures data transmission anonymity and enhances WMN coverage, in addition to assuring security and anonymity.

Now found in domestic, commercial, industrial, military, and healthcare applications, wireless networks are becoming ubiquitous. Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) combine the robustness and performance of conventional infrastructure networks with the large service area and self-organizing and self-healing properties of mobile ad hoc networks. In this article, the authors consider the problem of ensuring security in WMNs, introduce the IEEE 802.11s draft standard, and discuss the open security threats faced at the network and data-link layers.

There is a growing interest in ad hoc wireless networking internationally, due to the great cost in infrastructure and the time delay for deployment for new traditional wireless networks for a specific purpose (i.e. cellular systems). The interest arises from the possibility of delivering telecommunication services rapidly and with the reduced needs for costly generic infrastructure. Examples of such services include, among others, a convention where a large number of people are concentrated in a limited geographical area, a university campus with a great density of telecommunication users, or even a disaster area where the fixed infrastructure have been damaged. In most examples, ad hoc wireless networks may complement or replace the existing wireless telecommunications infrastructure. One flavor of ad hoc wireless networks that is of interest in this context, and is well adapted to the Lebanese market, are wireless mesh networks (WMN). We propose that the proliferation of WiFi hotspots in high-density areas of population in Lebanon forms the basis of deployment of mesh routers for a WMN. Of specific interest is to be able to use the dense infrastructure of GSM-EDGE (and in the future HSUPA) cellular networks in Lebanon to interconnect those routers in specific locations where it will be hard to deploy additional fixed and cumbersome cellular infrastructure. Locations where hotspots are already deployed (commercial centers, university campuses, business areas, etc.) or could be deployed for special events (conventions, concerts, etc.) could thus be interconnected in a hybrid wireless network, resulting in significantly increased capacity of the network for local voice and data traffic at little additional infrastructure cost. Furthermore, this could a preliminary step for direct connection between the mesh routers and not via the cellular network, into what will become a full- fledged WMN. The structure of the paper is as follows: section the author gives an introduction on ad hoc wireless networks; section II describes WMN and define the design issues of WMN; in section III, we look at a proposed scenario for deployment of WMNs in the Lebanese market and the issues of interconnection with the GSM networks. We will conclude in section IV.

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) are becoming inevitable in this world of high technology as it provides low cost access to broadband services. Moreover, the technologists are doing research to make WMN more reliable and secure. Subsequently, among wireless ad-hoc networking technologies, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is gaining high degree of importance among researchers due to its easy availability in the gadgets and low power consumption. BLE started its journey from version 4.0 and announced the latest version 5 with mesh support capability. BLE being a low power and mesh supported technology is nowadays among the hot research topics for the researchers. Many of the researchers are working on BLE mesh technology to make it more efficient and smart. Apart from other variables of efficiency, like all communication networks, mesh network security is also of a great concern. In view of the aforesaid, this paper provides a comprehensive review on several works associated to the security in WMN and BLE mesh networks and the research related to the BLE security protocols. Moreover, after the detailed research on related works, this paper has discussed the pros and cons of the present developed mesh security mechanisms. Also, at the end after extracting the curx from the present research on WMN and BLE mesh security, this research study has devised some solutions as how to mitigate the BLE mesh network security lapses.