Wireless Networking Concepts Assignment: Security and Energy Solutions

This document presents solutions to a wireless networking assignment, addressing key concepts in the field. The assignment covers three primary areas: encryption standards used in WiMAX networks (3DES, AES, and RSA), security challenges associated with Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) like Bluetooth and ZigBee, and the application of energy harvesting techniques in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The encryption section details the strengths and weaknesses of each standard. The WPAN section explores security risks like bluebugging, bluesnarfing, and unauthorized access. Finally, the energy harvesting section discusses various methods to acquire energy for WSNs, including radio frequency, solar, thermal, and wind energy harvesting, as well as hydropower techniques. References are provided to support the information presented. This assignment is a valuable resource for students studying wireless communication and networking.

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

1
WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..............................................................................................................................3
Answer 3..............................................................................................................................4
References............................................................................................................................6

2
WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Answer 1
Encryption is a process of transferring a plaintext data into cipher text in order to make
that data unreadable and inaccessible by the unauthorized users. The process of encryption
allows only the authorized persons to access a particular data (Biham & Shamir, 2012.).
The different encryption standards that are mainly used in WiMAX network includes
triple data encryption standard or 3DES, AES and RSA. These three encryption standards are
elaborated in the following table-
3DES AES RSA
 This method of
encryption uses three
different keys each of
length 56-bit in
encryption of data
 Provide additional
security with the 3-
key encryption
 The length of the key
is fixed and therefore
the process of
encryption is very
effective.
 3DES is based on
 Advanced encryption
standard or AES is a
advanced process of
DES and use 128 bit,
192 bit and 256 bit
keys for encryption of
the data (Karthik &
Muruganandam,
2014).
 This encryption uses
symmetric block
cipher
 Offers a considerable
faster performance
 RSA or Rivest Shamir
and Adleman is an
asymmetric key
encryption standard
used for encryption
and decryption of
messages using both
the public and private
key.
 The data encrypted
using RSA is difficult
to decrypt without the
key as it involves two
large prime numbers in

3
WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
ANSIX9.52 standard.
 3DES however offers a
slower performance
due to the involvement
of 3 different keys
(Singh, 2013).
than 3DES and
therefore considered as
one of the major tools
for WiMax network
(Daemen & Rijmen,
2013.).
the process of
encryption (Nagar &
Alshamma, 2012,
March).
 RSA is however rarely
used in ensuring
security of WiMAX.
Answer 2
Wireless personal area network or WPAN is a network of interconnecting devices, which
provides a wireless connection to the different devices. This technology is mainly used for
carrying out a short range communication among the different devices. The example of two such
WPAN technologies include Bluetooth and Zigbee
The security challenges associated with these two WPAN technologies are elaborated
below-
Bluetooth- The different security risks associated with the Bluetooth technology are
listed below-
1) One of the risk associated with a Bluetooth network is bluebugging, where an attack
gets the access of the network without the knowledge of the user in order to steal the confidential
data. This attack is also termed as bluesnarfing (Minar & Tarique, 2012).

4
WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
2) Bluejacking is another security risk associated with the WPAN network. In this attack,
the attacker inserts a malware in the network with an aim of data theft and data modification.
ZigBee- The different security risks associated with the ZigBee are listed below-
1) The risk of unauthorized access to an ZigBee network by an hacker or attacker is a
common risk associated with this network
2) Imitation of a node in order to access and duplicate the data present in a network is
another risk associated with APAN ZigBee (Zillner & Strobl, 2015).
Answer 3
Energy harvesting is a process of yielding energy from external sources specifically
natural or manmade resources. The available external resources that can be used for harvesting
the energy includes, wind, energy, solar energy, radio frequency based energy and so on. This
process of energy harvesting can be effectively used to eliminate the problems associated with
the limitation of energy in wireless sensor networks (Ulukus et al., 2015). This will help the
wireless sensor nodes in acquiring continuous energy supply and will thus help in eliminating the
problems associated with WSNs apart from reducing the use of conventional energy.
The different energy harvesting techniques that can be used for fetching tenergy for
wireless sensor networks are elaborated in the following paragraphs (Shaikh & Zeadally, 2016)-
Radio frequency based harvesting- In this energy harvesting technique the energy of
radio waves in converted in DC power energy. This is an efficient energy harvesting
methodology.

5
WIRELESS NETWORKING CONCEPTS
Solar energy Harvesting- proper harvesting techniques can be employed for harvesting
the solar energy, which would further help in impending the energy problems associated with the
use of wireless sensor networks.
Thermal Energy- Thermal energy harvesting is a process of conversion of heat energy
into electrical energy. This is another effective method of energy harvesting.
Wind energy Harvesting - the energy of moving wind can be harvested and can be
effectively used in generation of electricity.
Flow based Energy harvesting Technique- The rotational movement of turbines and
rotors can be used for converting the rotational energy into electrical energy.
Hydropower based energy harvesting- The energy of falaling water is used to generate
electric in this technique. This is one of the most common techniques used in the process of
energy harvesting.

6
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).