Guarding Architecture for Unattended Deployment Applications of Ad Hoc Networks: GARUDA

Background/Objective: Human monitoring is expensive and vulnerable due to human errors. The Ad Hoc networks are used as an alternative to monitor the sensitive areas. The major drawback of the Ad Hoc network monitoring is the unattended nature of the network which makes the system susceptible to attacks by conflicting troupes. The limited battery capacity and processing power makes it difficult to implement complex cryptographic solutions to protect the network. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The proposed system brings together a general architecture called Guarding Architecture for Unattended Deployment Applications (GARUDA) for Ad Hoc network Security. A cluster-based approach is used to classify the network nodes based on functionality and priority. A key Pre-distribution technique is used to protect the key-management schema. The modified Localized Encryption and Authentication Protocol are used for hierarchical key management. The Rivest Cipher 5 (RC5) algorithm is used for encryption of sensitive data. The system has an unmanned vehicle with sensors to protect the network from attacks and report the malicious activities to the base station. Findings: The architecture was successfully implemented in wireless sensor network, set up by micaz motes. The RC5 algorithm was programmed using nesC language in micaz mote for encrypting the sensitive data. The highly confidential data can be directly sent to the base station from the vehicle unit. The absence of key exchange and presence of individual key makes the system sheltered. Applications/Improvements: The GARUDA architecture can be used in any resource constraint monitoring application of unattended nature to make it secure. The vehicle unit can resolve network problems like time synchronization and localization in ad hoc networks.