A Security Scheme for Source-Location Privacy Protection in Wireless Sensor Networks by Selecting Phantom Nodes

Source-location privacy (SLP) is an important concern in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) as it can threaten WSN security. This paper first analyzed the SLP problem and then designed a node energy and distance-based SLP (NEDSLP) scheme from the point of selecting phantom nodes. The selection of phantom nodes occurred beyond the visible range of the source node, and the next hop routing was selected by considering both node energy and distance. This paper first briefly analyzed the SLP problem and then designed a node energy and distance-based SLP (NEDSLP) security scheme from the selection of phantom nodes, which selected phantom nodes outside the visual zone of the source node and selected the next hop routes by considering the node energy and distance together. Simulations on OMNet++ found that, compared with a protocol using source-based restricted flooding (PUSBRF) and a source location privacy protection scheme based on ring-loop routing (SLPRR), the NEDSLP scheme had a safety time of 886 when the number of hops was 50, which was 23% higher than the SLPRR. The energy consumption of the NEDSLP scheme was 72 hops, which was slightly higher than the PUSBRF but slightly lower than the SLPRR. The transmission delay was 46 hops, reduced by 25% compared to the PUSBRF and reduced by 18% compared to the SLPRR. The results demonstrate that the scheme proposed in this paper can effectively improve the security of SLPs for the purpose of protecting monitoring targets and can be further applied in WSNs.