Modeling the pairwise key distribution scheme in the presence of unreliable links

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the secure connectivity of wireless sensor networks using pairwise key distribution under unreliable links, establishing zero-one laws for network connectivity with high probability as the network scales.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified model with unreliable links and derives zero-one laws for secure connectivity, contrasting with full visibility assumptions in prior work.

Findings

Zero-one laws for secure connectivity under unreliable links

Conditions for no isolated secure nodes in large networks

Validation of laws under realistic disk model simulations

Abstract

We investigate the secure connectivity of wireless sensor networks under the pairwise key distribution scheme of Chan et al.. Unlike recent work which was carried out under the assumption of full visibility, here we assume a (simplified) communication model where unreliable wireless links are represented as on/off channels. We present conditions on how to scale the model parameters so that the network i) has no secure node which is isolated and ii) is securely connected, both with high probability when the number of sensor nodes becomes large. The results are given in the form of zero-one laws, and exhibit significant differences with corresponding results in the full visibility case. Through simulations these zero-one laws are shown to be valid also under a more realistic communication model, i.e., the disk model.