New pairwise key predistribution scheme for wireless sensor networks

A new hypercube-based key predistribution scheme for establishing pairwise keys between sensor nodes using polynomials, which is parameterized by the dimension of hypercube and the Hamming distance threshold variables was developed. This scheme exhibits a nice property: when the Hamming distance between any two neighboring sensor nodes is less than the pre-defined threshold, the pairwise key can be established directly. The scheme is typical for the innovation that the Hamming distance threshold is parameterized which solves the constraint in previous schemes that any two neighboring nodes can establish pairwise key only when the Hamming distance is one. Extensive performance and security analysis shows that by increasing Hamming distance threshold value, the resilience against node capture attack for higher probability of direct pairwise key establishment can be traded off, so as to save the energy consumption which is the most important issue for sensor networks.