Wireless Sensor Networks Security and Energy Harvesting

This assignment delves into the critical aspects of security and energy efficiency in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). It examines prevalent security threats like Bluetooth vulnerabilities and the importance of encryption algorithms such as AES. Furthermore, it explores various energy harvesting techniques, including solar, thermal, and RF energy harvesting, highlighting their potential to sustain WSN operations and reduce reliance on conventional energy sources.

Running head: WIRELESS NETWORK
Wireless Network
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1. Answer 1..........................................................................................................................2
2. Answer 2..........................................................................................................................3
2.1. Bluetooth...................................................................................................................4
2.2. ZigBee.......................................................................................................................5
3. Answer 3..........................................................................................................................5
4. References........................................................................................................................8

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1. Answer 1
The process of data encryption deals with the transformation of a data into a secret code.
This is thus a very effective way to ensure data security in different networks. The person who
has an access to a security key can only decrypt the data encrypted. Data security is ensured in
WiMax networks with the involvement of different encryption standard and algorithms. WiMax
or worldwide Interoperability for Microwave access is a high level wireless broadband access
used for providing enhanced wireless connections over a wide range (Biham & Shamir, 2012).
The encryption standards that are used for encryption of data in WiMax network are triple or
3DES encryption standard, AES and CCMP encryption standard.
The features and advantages of these three encryption standards are described in the
following table-
Triple DES AES CCMP
1. It is a triple data
encryption algorithm
that applies the DES
algorithm on a
particular data three
times to ensure
advanced security
2. It is a symmetric block
cipher algorithm,
which is widely used
1. AES of advanced
encryption standard is
an enhanced version of
the triple DES and is
widely used for
encryption of data in
WiMax network.
2. A symmetric block
cipher uses keys of 128
bit/ 192 bit for
1. CCMP is an advanced
form of AES and is
based on AES
encryption protocol.
2. It is an enhanced data
cryptographic
encapsulation methods
for securing the
confidentiality of data
or packets in WiMax

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in encryption of data in
WiMax network.
3. The key size of 3DES
is 56 bit but it uses
three keys of same size
for data encryption.
Therefore, it becomes
almost impossible to
decrypt a data
encrypted using 3DES
(Singh, 2013).
4. Since an encryption
algorithm is run three
times on a single data,
the performance of
3DES is much slower
in comparison to that
of more advanced
algorithms such as
AES and CCPMP
encryption and
decryption of data
(Karthik &
Muruganandam,
2014).
3. This encryption
standard is much faster
than the 3DES
encryption standard
and hence widely used.
4. It successfully replaced
3DES in many
networks as the key
size is very small in
DES.
5. It is a stronger and
faster encryption
standard than triple
DES (Daemen &
Rijmen, 2013).
network (Saberi et al.,
2012).
3. It uses a 128 bit key
for data encryption.
4. The initialization
vector in CCMP is of
length 48 bit.
5. It is one of the most
widely used encryption
standards in WiMax
networks.
2. Answer 2

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WPAN is a wireless personal area network used mainly for data transfer over a short
range. The data can be transferred among different devices such as computers, telephones tablets
and other digital devices using WPAN network. The most common example of WPAN network
are, ZigBee and Bluetooth.
Bluetootth is a WPAN standard used for establishing short-range wireless connections of
at most eight digital devices at a time. Bluetooth network uses a standard frequency of 2.4GHZ.
Figure 1: Representing a Bluetooth network
(Source: (Minar & Tarique, 2012))

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ZigBee is another example of WPAN network and has simpler architecture than
Bluetooth. It is used for setting a connection among devices over a very short range. The
different security issues linked with the Bluetooth and ZigBee network are described below-
2.1. Bluetooth
The security issues and challenges that a Bluetooth network might face are elaborated
below-
1) Bluesnarfing, bluebugging, bluejacking are common Bluetooth security risk in which a
hacker or the attacker breaks into the network and tarnishes the normal working of the network.
This is generally a result of some malware breaking into the network.
2) Eavesdropping is another security risk associated with a Bluetooth network that can be
eliminated by using strong encryption security.
2.2. ZigBee
The security risk associated with ZigBee includes the use duplication of ZigBee node to
access the data from the network. This may be severe if the attacker gets hold of the encryption
key (Zillner & Strobl, 2015). The security feature of a ZigBee network can be improved in order
to eliminate potential threats.
3. Answer 3
The energy scavenging process form external and natural resources can be termed as
energy harvesting. The concept of energy harvesting is not new and can be used to reduce the
problems the wireless sensor networks are facing due to the steady depletion of conventional
energy sources. Wireless sensor networks needs a continuous supply of energy in order to

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perform in its optimum level. Therefore, the process of energy harvesting indeed will be a great
help for WSNs.
The depletion of energy sources in WSNs can be a reason of battery breakdown or
current leakage, which consumes a lot of energy even when not in use. Furthermore, operations
of wireless sensor nodes are not possible with a low power energy resource and work only if the
power source is replaced by a new source. Thus different energy harvesting techniques can have
a wide usage in the field of WSNs in order to provide continuous power supply to the energy
nodes (Ulukus et al., 2015). This will further help in conserving the conventional energy, whose
recourses are steadily depleting by its extensive usage. The known energy harvesting processes
and techniques are described below (Shaikh & Zeadally, 2016).
1) Solar energy collecting or harvesting is a known harvesting technique, where the
energy of the sun is converted into electrical energy. This concept can be used in the case of
Wireless sensor network as well.
2) Thermal energy collection or harvesting is another effective energy harvesting
technique where the thermal or heat energy is converted into electrical energy.
3) Radio Frequency energy harvesting is another energy harvesting technique that
converts the energy of radio waves into electrical energy.
4) The rotational movement and energy obtained from the rotation of the rotors and
turbines can be harvested and converted into electrical energy.
5) Wind energy harvesting is a newer energy harvesting technique that can harvested and
converted into electrical energy.

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6) The energy obtained from moving water can be utilized for generating electrical
energy.
These are some of the common energy harvesting techniques, which can be utilized
effectively for removing the different energy problems related to the WSNs or wireless sensor
networks.

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4. 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.

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Zillner, T., & Strobl, S. (2015). ZigBee exploited: The good the bad and the ugly.