Energy Harvesting in Wireless Sensor Networks

This assignment delves into the crucial topic of energy harvesting in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). It outlines the challenges posed by limited battery life and current leakage in WSNs, highlighting the significance of energy harvesting as a solution. The assignment comprehensively describes various energy harvesting techniques, including radio frequency harvesting, solar energy conversion, thermoelectric harvesting, flow-based harvesting, wind energy harvesting, and hydropower generation. Each technique is explained with its working principle and potential applications in WSNs.

Running head: WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Wireless Networking Concepts
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..............................................................................................................................4
Bluetooth..........................................................................................................................4
ZigBee..............................................................................................................................4
Answer 3..............................................................................................................................5
References............................................................................................................................7

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Answer 1
WiMax or worldwide interoperability for microwave access is a standard for wireless
communication based on IEEE 802.16 protocols. It is generally used for providing high-speed
internet connection in wide area network. Therefore ensuring security of WiMax becomes
essential. Encryption is one important security protocol used for WiMax technology. The process
of converting a plain text or readable data with the help of certain standard algorithm is known as
encryption. Out of the three various encryption standard used for securing the data in WiMax
network, the most common encryption standard that are used in WiMax includes triple DES,
AES and CCMP (Biham & Shamir, 2012).
Triple DES, AES and CCMP encryption standards are compared in the following table-
3DES AES CCMP
 3DES algorithm or
triple DES is a
symmetric encryption
standard that uses three
keys, each of length
56bit for data
encryption in WiMax
networks (Singh,
2013).
 The security level in
3DES is enhanced due
 Advanced encryption
standard or AES is a
advanced version of
3DES and uses 128,
192 and 256 bit keys
for standard encryption
(Karthik &
Muruganandam,
2014).
 It is a symmetric block
cipher that is most
 Counter mode cipher
message authentication
protocol or CCMP is
one of the most
common encryption
algorithms used for
wireless networks.
 It is one of the most
effective algorithms
for WiMax networks
as well.

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
to the involvement of
the three-phased
encryption. 3DES
encryption runs the
traditional DES
algorithm on a data
three times thus
ensuring extra layer of
protection
 Since a single
algorithm is run three
times in a data, the
process of encryption
becomes slower in
comparison to other
encryption standard.
 3DES is one of the
oldest algorithms that
are used even today.
Out of different
encryption standards
used in WiMax, triple
DES is the most
commonly used in
WiMax networks.
 The performance of
AES is much faster
compared to that of
3DES but needs a
dedicated processor for
it implementation
(Daemen & Rijmen,
2013).
 AES is therefore,
somewhat more costly
than DES to
implement.
 However, it is one of
the most used
encryption standards in
WiMax networks.
 Like AES, CCMp also
uses 128 bit key for
encryption of data in
WiMax network.
 CCMP is derived from
AES and provides
enhanced security
using 128-bit
encryption.
 A 48-bit initialization
vector initiates the
encryption algorithm
in CCMP (Saberi et al.,
2012).

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
widely used
algorithms.
 In order to eliminate
the limitation of slower
performance in 3DES,
an advanced algorithm
called AES is used in
WiMax networks.
Answer 2
WPAN stands for wireless personal area network, a network, which is generally used for
establishing connection among the devices over a short range. It is much simpler in comparison
to that of WiMax. WPAN technology and network is mainly used proving a wireless connection
to devices located in a very short range. WPAN can be set up with a very low cost and consumes
less power in comparison to that of WiMax.
Examples of two most common WPAN technologies include Bluetooth and ZigBee.
Bluetooth is considered as a short-range network connection capable of connecting eight devices
at most. Bluetooth network is generally used to transfer files over a very short range. ZigBee on
other hand is a more simple WPAN technology. It is used generally used to create networks that
require a considerably lower data transfer rate. It is an energy efficient network as well.
However, there are different security issues and concerns associated with Bluetooth and ZigBee
which are elaborated in the following paragraphs-
Bluetooth

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
The different security challenges associated with the Bluetooth technologies are security
attacks such as Bluesnarfing, Bluejacking and bluebugging. The risks associated with these
security attacks include gaining the access to the network by the attacker, which results in data
loss and severe security breach (Minar & Tarique, 2012).
ZigBee
Zigbee network is more prone to attack in comparison to Bluetooth network. Different
malicious agents can be used to break into a ZIgBee network to gain access to encryption key
and confidential data present in the network. This attack can be launched by imitating a node
ZigBee network (Zillner & Strobl, 2015).
Answer 3
Energy harvesting is method of capturing the energy from natural and manmade
resources, which are then converted into usable electrical power. The process of energy
harvesting helps in lowering the convection energy use. Therefore, different energy harvesting
processes can be implemented for reducing the energy problems that are faced in case of wireless
sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks or WSNs are popular due to its extensive use in IOT.
However, these WSNs are facing a lot of problem due to the limitation of conventional energy
and this network requires a continuous power supply. In order to eliminate these problems,
different energy harvesting techniques can be used for providing a continuous power supply to
the sensor nodes. Energy loss in wireless sensor networks can be due to the battery breakdown
and current leakage. In such cases, the wireless sensor network fails to perform until the energy
source is replaced. Therefore, energy harvesting becomes essential for impeding the energy
needs in WSNs (Ulukus et al., 2015).

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
The different techniques of energy harvesting are listed below (Shaikh & Zeadally,
2016)-
1) Energy Harvesting using Radio Frequency is a energy capturing techniques, that
captures the energy of radio waves that is later converted into electrical energy.
2) Energy of the sun is harvested and converted into electrical energy, which can further
help in reducing the associated energy problems in WSNs or wireless sensor Networks.
3) The heat energy can be converted into electrical energy by Seebeck effect. This is a
process of thermal energy harvesting.
4) In Flow based energy harvesting, the rotational energy or power of turbines and rotors
are converted into electrical energy with the help of different energy harvesting procedures.
5) The energy of the wind is harvested in wind harvesting for converting into electrical
energy.
6) The energy of moving water can also be harvested and converted into electrical
energy. This energy can be used to replace the energy source in wireless sensor networks.

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WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS

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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.
Saberi, I., Shojaie, B., Salleh, M., Niknafskermani, M., & Alavi, S. M. (2012, May). Improving
confidentiality of AES-CCMP in IEEE 802.11 i. In Computer Science and Software
Engineering (JCSSE), 2012 International Joint Conference on (pp. 82-86). 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.