Security in Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) or just sensor networks are grids or networks made of spatially distributed autonomous but cooperating tiny devices called sensors all of which have sensing capabilities that are used to detect, monitor, and track physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion, or pollutants, at different locations. The network may consist of just a few or thousands of tiny, mostly immobile, usually, randomly deployed nodes, covering a small or large geographical area. In many cases, sensor networks do not require predetermined positioning when they are randomly deployed, making them viable for inaccessible terrains where they can quickly self-organize and form a network on the fly. Although the use of sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions is not new, recent advances have opened up the potential for WSN. Wireless sensor networks could advance many scientific pursuits while providing a vehicle for enhancing various forms of productivity, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and transportation. In the military, they are good for command and control, intelligence, and surveillance. WSNs have evolved into point-to-point networks with simple interfaceInterface protocols providing for sensing and control information and analog signal providing a single dimension of measurement to the current large number and sophisticated wireless sensor nodes networks. Currently, there is a whole spectrum of different sensor network protocols for the many different types of sensor networks in use today. This chapter looks at this phenomenal growth of WSNs, the role they play in the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and the overall global communication network with a focus on security.