Security - Lifetime tradeoffs for wireless sensor networks

This paper deals with tradeoffs between the security capability of wireless sensor networks and the lifetime performance. The REWARD algorithm for secure routing is used as a main example. Nodes listen to neighbors transmissions to detect black hole attacks. As a result, symmetrical forwarding of packets is required. The paper analyzes the opportunities for power efficient partitioning of the wireless link under medium access control based on beacons and advertising windows. Then, the energy overhead associated with symmetrical routing is discussed. The energy overhead is broken down into static, the additional energy required to watch for attacks, and dynamic, which is application specific.