TGKAV: Tree-Based Group Key Agreement Scheme With Practical Antenna Implementation for Vehicle Platoon

Ensuring the safe transfer of information plays an important role in the development of Industry 4.0. Robust authentication and security frameworks are required to establish confidence among vehicles, provide reliable data flow, and improve the overall safety of vehicle platoons. This is crucial for preventing cyber-attacks that could cause accidents or disrupt the synchronized movement of vehicle platoons. Initially, in this study, a novel privacy-preserving mechanism based on an authentication code and cipher test is suggested. Second, an effective authentication system is proposed for vehicle platoons. Third, a novel tree-based group key-sharing mechanism for the exchange of information between vehicle users is proposed. The proposed scheme also supports the sharing of the same group key for entities in Industry 4.0. Finally, a planar array consisting of four elements was specifically built for use in vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) applications operating inside the Dedicated Short-range Communications (DSRC) (802.11p) band to prove the efficacy in terms of practical implementation. To assess the security level of the suggested authentication scheme, both formal and informal analyses were conducted. Finally, the performance of the suggested protocol is evaluated in terms of computational and communication overheads. Moreover, the designed antenna provides complete impedance bandwidth coverage, good gain, and minimal cross-polarization suppression at the optimum frequency of operation in the C band.