Towards More Efficient Distance Bounding Protocols for Use in Sensor Networks

Abstract

In this paper we describe two secure protocols for estimating distance in sensor networks based on time of flight of signals. Both have lower message complexity and lower overhead than similar protocols offering the same degree of security. One is a distance bounding protocol, in which a dishonest node that is not in collusion with any other dishonest nodes can pretend to be further away than it is, but not any closer. Another is an authenticated distance estimation protocol in which an honest node can compute its distance from another honest node without fear of their communication being hijacked by an attacker. We provide a formal analysis to show that these protocols satisfy their security properties