Wireless Sensor Networks Security and Energy Harvesting

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of securing wireless sensor networks (WSNs) against potential threats. It examines various vulnerabilities, such as differential cryptanalysis and Bluetooth exploits, highlighting the importance of encryption algorithms like RSA, DES, and AES in protecting sensitive data. Furthermore, the assignment explores energy harvesting techniques, including radio frequency, solar, thermal, wind, and hydro energy, as sustainable solutions to power WSNs and mitigate reliance on conventional energy sources.

Running head: WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Wireless Networking Concepts
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
Student ID:____________ Family name: ____________________________________
Given names: __________________________________________________________
Subject name: ________________________________ Subject code: _____________
Lecturer: _____________________________________ Assignment No: ___________

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..............................................................................................................................4
Bluetooth..........................................................................................................................4
ZigBee..............................................................................................................................5
Answer 3..............................................................................................................................5
References............................................................................................................................7
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Answer 1
Encryption is a process of converting a particular information or data into a code in order
to prevent unauthorized access to the data. Encryption helps in limiting the access to a particular
data only to registered users. There are different encryption standards that are used to protect the
privacy and confidentiality of the data. (Biham & Shamir, 2012.)
The three data encryption standards for WiMAX networks are 3DES or triple data
encryption standard, AES and RSA. These encryption standards are elaborated in the following
table.
3DES AES RSA
 3DES or triple data
encryption method
uses three different
keys of 56-bit length
for a high-level
encryption. In this
encryption standard, a
symmetric key block
cipher uses the
traditional DES cipher
algorithm three times
for each data block.
 The key size of the
 AES or advanced
encryption standard
provides the support
and a better encryption
method with the use of
128-bit, 192-bit or
256-bit encryption
keys.
 This encryption
standard is a
symmetric block
cipher (Karthik &
Muruganandam,
 RSA or Rivest Shamir
Adleman is a public
key encryption
standard used to
encrypt a message
using a public key,
while the message is
decrypted using a
private key.
 This is an asymmetric
key algorithm as both
the keys are used for
encryption and
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
triple DES is large to
ensure additional
amount of security
while encryption of a
data.
 These three keys are
also known as bundle
keys and consists of 56
bits each.
 The major advantage
of triple DES is that,
the size of the key
length is fixed. Triple
DES helps in
encrypting the data
three times. The
different keys of triple
DES is known as k1,
k2 and k3.
 This technology is
based on ANSIX9.52
standard.
 3DES is a bit slower in
2014).
 This is the most used
algorithm used for
encryption of data.
 This algorithm has
been developed as a
successor for DES or
data encryption
standard algorithm
(Daemen & Rijmen,
2013.).
 AES encryption
standard is a method of
converting raw
information into
unreadable
information.
 AES was built from
CCMP.
 IT is much faster than
3DES and can be
easily implemented
using very less
decryption
 This is an effective
standard of encryption
as two large prime
numbers are used for
generating the
encryption and
decryption key of this
encryption algorithm
and therefore it
becomes very difficult
to crack the encryption
(Nagar & Alshamma,
2012, March).
 RSA is rarely used in
WiMax unlike 3DES
and AES.
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
performance as it uses
the 3 different phases
for encrypting a
particular data.
 It is one of the Vital
encryption standard for
WiMax network.
 3DES is however, not
much in use due to the
evolution of AES
(Singh, 2013)
memory.
 However, unlike
3DES, it requires a
dedicated processor
and therefore 3DES
remains one of the
vital tools for WiMax
network.
Answer 2
WPAN or wireless personal area network is a network of interconnecting devices
providing a wireless connection to the devices. WPAN technologies are mainly used for short
range communications, low power consumption, low cost and are very beneficial for setting up
small personal networks.
The two examples of WPAN technology include Bluetooth and ZigBee. Blurtooth is a
widely used WPAN technology. Bluetooth is a standard for short-range wireless interconnection
of mobile and electronic devices. Zigbee on other hand is simpler and less expensive than
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Bluetooth. The primary advantage of Zigbee is its ease of installation, data transfer and low cost.
However, there are certain security concerns that are associated with these WPAN technologies.
The security challenges of WPAN and Bluetooth are elaborated in the following
paragraphs-
Bluetooth
The security threats associated with Bluetooth technology in WPAN are listed below-
1) Bluebugging: In this security threat where an hacker breaks into a Bluetooth network
and can exploit the network without the knowledge of the owner.
2) Blue jacking: In this security thret, the attacker sends harmful messages to the sender
that could be opened up automatically and install the malicious contents.
3) Bkuesnarfing: the attacker gets access into the nwtwork and gets unauthorized access
to the data present (Minar & Tarique, 2012).
ZigBee
The security concerns associated with ZigBee are listed below-
1) A hacker may break into a ZigBee network and gain physical access to the data and
the encryption key of the device thus revealing the confidential information.
2) Another major risk associated with this attack is imitating a node of a network in order
to gain access to the data (Zillner & Strobl, 2015).
Answer 3
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
The process of yielding or harvesting the energy from external sources is known as
energy harvesting. The different external sources of energy harvesting include solar energy,
wind energy, hydropower energy and so on. Efficient energy harvesting methodologies are
explored in order to eliminate the limitation of energy concerning the development of Wireless
sensor networks or WSNs. Energy harvesting is necessary in order to overcome the problem
faced sue to the depletion of sensor node in WSN, due to which the network fails to perform its
responsibility in a proper way (Shaikh & Zeadally, 2016).
Energy harvesting methodology allows the wireless sensor nodes to acquire continuous
energy from the nature and mad made phenomenon. Therefore, the process of energy harvesting
can help in ascertaining a promising future in the field of wireless network by reducing the use of
conventional energy to a considerable amount (Ulukus et al., 2015).
The different energy harvesting techniques are elaborated below (Shaikh & Zeadally,
2016)
1) Radio Frequency based Energy harvesting: This energy harvesting techniques deals
with the conversion of radio waves into DC power energy
2) Solar energy harvesting: there is abundance of solar energy and therefore proper
harvesting techniques can be used for impending the problems associated with wireless sensor
networks.
3) Thermal Energy: This method of energy harvesting converts the heat energy into
electrical energy. The method used is Seebeck effect.
4) Wind Energy harvesting: This energy can be harvested for generation of electricity
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
5) Hydro energy harvesting: The energy or strength of falling water can be harvested for
harnessing the energy.
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
References
Biham, E., & Shamir, A. (2012). Differential cryptanalysis of the data encryption standard.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Daemen, J., & Rijmen, V. (2013). The design of Rijndael: AES-the advanced encryption
standard. Springer Science & Business Media.
Karthik, S., & Muruganandam, A. (2014). Data Encryption and Decryption by using Triple DES
and performance analysis of crypto system. International Journal of Scientific
Engineering and Research, 24-31.
Minar, N. B. N. I., & Tarique, M. (2012). Bluetooth security threats and solutions: a
survey. International Journal of Distributed and Parallel Systems, 3(1), 127.
Nagar, S. A., & Alshamma, S. (2012, March). High speed implementation of RSA algorithm
with modified keys exchange. In Sciences of Electronics, Technologies of Information
and Telecommunications (SETIT), 2012 6th International Conference on (pp. 639-642).
IEEE.
Shaikh, F. K., & Zeadally, S. (2016). Energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks: A
comprehensive review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 55, 1041-1054.
Singh, G. (2013). A study of encryption algorithms (RSA, DES, 3DES and AES) for information
security. International Journal of Computer Applications, 67(19).
Ulukus, S., Yener, A., Erkip, E., Simeone, O., Zorzi, M., Grover, P., & Huang, K. (2015).
Energy harvesting wireless communications: A review of recent advances. IEEE Journal
on Selected Areas in Communications, 33(3), 360-381.
STUDENT NAME: SMARTY SHARMA ID: 11620607