An Integrated Security and Reliability Framework for Resource-constrained Wireless Networks

There has been a phenomenal growth in wireless technologies and mobile communication systems in the last few years. In particular, two emerging wireless technologies, namely, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and wireless body area networks have shown enormous potential in the areas of mobile commerce and healthcare, respectively. Convergence of RFID technology and the mobile phone has resulted in potential applications such as contact-less and wallet-less mobile commerce wherein secure payments can be made instantly. Combined with the existing cellular network infrastructure, the possible applications and services are vast. In a similar manner, wireless body area networks can offer tremendous benefits for remote health monitoring and continuous, real-time patient care by recording and transmitting vital physiological data from sensors placed on the human body to monitoring stations. However, security and reliability are two critical design issues that need to be addressed before such networks can be successfully deployed in sensitive and time-critical applications. Severe resource and computational restrictions imposed by these networks make the use of sophisticated and advanced encryption and reliability algorithms infeasible. The primary objective of this research is to develop a framework for the integration of security and reliability for resource-constrained wireless networks. Towards the realization of this objective, the research will investigate and develop a set of lightweight mechanisms in RFID and body area networks to support wireless services. The proposal aims to unify and extend identity-based cryptography and zero-knowledge proof systems for developing an integrated framework. An end-to-end architecture that integrates an optimal set of security and reliability mechanisms will be developed and evaluated on an experimental test bed for mobile commerce and healthcare applications. The research will provide training for two Ph.D. and fifteen Masters students. In the long run, this research will be a significant step in the design of ubiquitous wireless networks, that are not only secure but also provide guaranteed reliability.