Weight based clustered key management scheme using RSA for wireless mobile Ad hoc networks

Key management is vital part of security; this issue is even bigger in wireless network compared to wired network. The distribution of keys in an authenticated manner is a difficult task in WMANET and when a node leaves or joins it need to generate new session key to maintain forward and backward secrecy. This paper reviewed technological solutions for managing keys by divide the network into clusters. A clustering architecture increases network lifetime and fault tolerance, and results in more efficient use of network resources. Cluster head will maintain the group key; it will also update the group key whenever there is a change in the membership. And the CH is responsible for inter-cluster and intra-cluster communication. A Secondary Cluster Head (SCH) is also elected to avoid the CH from becoming a bottleneck, and also it acts a monitoring node for cluster head lifetime. The combination of Weight based Clustering and RSA algorithm has been proposed for secure multicast key distribution in which source node uses Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol to reach its destination. The weight based clustering approach is based on combined weight metric that takes into account of several system parameters like the degree difference, transmission range, battery power and mobility of the node. The performance of the system is evaluated based on the few metrics like Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), and end to end delay. As demonstrated, our algorithm reduces frequent head election phenomena by having SCH, thus improving overall performance and reducing energy utilization.