Analysis of a hybrid key management solution for ad hoc networks

Designing a key management system is both important and challenging for wireless ad hoc networks. We have developed a secure, scalable, decentralized and robust key management solution using a hybrid (symmetric/asymmetric) key based methodology that is well suited for ad hoc networks. The nodes are grouped into clusters, and keys are distributed such that intra-cluster communication is secured using a symmetric cryptosystem and inter-cluster communication is secured using an asymmetric cryptosystem. We present a detailed analysis of the solution and simulation results. We observe that the hybrid solution provides a significant improvement in the performance of the key management solution in a highly hostile environment, and scales well to large networks.