Topology- and Resource-Based Distribution Scheme for Collaborative Security-Focused Design Space Exploration in Large-Scale Static WSNs

Security is a crucial aspect in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), ensuring protection of the network and its data against attackers. The resource-constrained nature of sensor nodes, however, poses a challenge for the implementation of security means. Instead of perfect security a trade-off between security, longevity and functional requirements is necessary. The problem of designing optimal security configurations for large-scale static WSNs, becomes even more complex when we intend to take advantage of the distributed nature. On the model of a neighbourhood watch, the advantage of distributed collaborative security is displayed, in which security coverage increases, while the individually induced workload for security tasks is reduced. Ensemble security frameworks provide similar solutions for WSNs by combining multiple security means. While they are capable of optimally utilising available resources to maximise security, they are highly specialised, hence not well adaptable to new applications and requirements. We propose a topology- and resource-based distribution scheme for the design of distributed collaborative security configurations in large-scale static WSNs. Further, we elaborate the application of our scheme and its suitability to be integrated into a design space exploration (DSE) concept. Moreover, we propose a DSE concept that combines exhaustive and heuristic exploration techniques and is able to integrate analytical and simulation models for evaluation. The computational efficiency of our distribution scheme is evaluated on lambda-precision unit disk graphs as models for WSNs with up to 300 nodes.