Authenticated Reliable and Semi-Reliable Communication in Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure communication in wireless ad hoc sensor networks is a major research concern in the networking community. Especially the few available resources in terms of processing power and available memory are challenging factors. Additionally, a typical characteristic of wireless ad hoc sensor networks is the error-proneness and, therefore, the unreliability of communication paths. In this paper, the authors describe a new approach and an according protocol for usage in ad hoc networks that provides reliable as well as semi-reliable communication services in combination with security services. Thus, the proposed methodology allows to ensure data integrity and message authentication.