Secure routing for supporting ad-hoc extreme emergency infrastructures

摘要

The importance of emergency services has lead to an indispensable need for lightweight technologies that will support emergency rescue missions. Due to their nature and the non-infrastructure characteristics Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) are characterised as autonomous networks that have the potential to be exploited when wireless communications should be established in an ad-hoc manner in cases that traditional telecommunications infrastructures such as 3G have failed. A critical issue within the context of MANETs is the routing protocol that has to be followed by the nodes in order to set up communication “bridges” among each other. On the other hand, malicious entities may try to disrupt the conventional functionality of any routing protocol by (i) modifying routing information, (ii) fabricating false routing information and (iii) impersonating other nodes. In this paper we apply the IPSec protocol over well known routing protocols for MANETs and we evaluate their performance along with the lines of choosing an appropriate secure routing mechanism that can be applicable in emergency MANETs (eMANETs). These are MANETs that are established during an emergency scenario to provide communication links among the rescuers. To simulate the mobility of the rescuers during an emergency mission an appropriate mobility model has been utilised and acknowledged.