Secure mobile ad-hoc network and related methods

• US 20030210787A1
• Filed: 05/10/2002
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Billhartz, Thomas Jay, Fleming, Frank Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/12 Details relating to cryptographic hardware or logic circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0457 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply dynamic encryption, e.g. stream encryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for stream encryption H04L9/065
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/068 using time-dependent keys, e.g. periodically changing keys cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for controlling usage of secret information H04L9/088
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0869 involving random numbers or seeds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0872 using geo-location information, e.g. location data, time, relative position or proximity to other entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A mobile ad-hoc network may include a plurality of nodes including a source node and at least one adjacent node. The source node may include a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless communications link with the at least one adjacent node, a plain text source, and a seed generator for performing a one-way algorithm using a secret key for generating a seed. Furthermore, the source node may also include a key encryptor for receiving the seed and generating a key sequence based thereon, and a logic circuit for generating cipher text for transmission over the wireless communications link and based upon the key sequence and the plain text.

Claims

1. A secure mobile ad-hoc network node comprising:

a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless communications link with at least one adjacent node;

a plain text source;

a seed generator for performing a one-way algorithm using a secret key for generating a seed;

a key encryptor receiving the seed and generating a key sequence based thereon; and

a logic circuit generating cipher text for transmission to the at least one adjacent node over the wireless communications link and based upon the key sequence and the plain text.

2. The node of claim 1 wherein the one-way algorithm comprises a hashing algorithm.

3. The node of claim 2 wherein the hashing algorithm comprises a single-phase hashing algorithm.

4. The node of claim 1 wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and a changing reference value to generate the seed.

5. The node of claim 4 wherein the wireless communications device has associated therewith a media access controller (MAC) layer;

and wherein the changing reference value comprises a MAC layer sequence number.

6. The node of claim 1 wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and an address of the node.

7. The node of claim 1 further comprising a random initialization vector (IV) generator for generating a random IV;

and wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and the random IV.

8. The node of claim 7 wherein said random IV generator is coupled to said wireless communications device, and wherein said wireless communications device also transmits the random IV with the cipher text.

9. The node of claim 1 further comprising an integrity checker for generating an integrity check value based upon the plain text;

and wherein said logic circuit generates the cipher text based upon the key sequence, the plain text, and the integrity check value.

10. The node of claim 9 further comprising a concatenator for concatenating the plain text and the integrity check value;

and wherein said logic circuit generates the cipher text based upon the key sequence and the concatenation of the plain text and the integrity check value.

11. The node of claim 9 wherein said integrity checker comprises a checksum generator.

12. The node of claim 1 wherein said logic circuit comprises an exclusive OR logic circuit.

13. The node of claim 1 further comprising a random initialization vector (IV) generator for generating a random IV, and a concatenator for concatenating the seed and the random IV;

and wherein said key encryptor generates the key sequence based upon the concatenation of the seed and the random IV.

14. The node of claim 1 wherein the secret key comprises a static secret key.

15. The node of claim 1 wherein said key encryptor comprises a pseudo-random number generator.

16. The device of claim 1 wherein the key sequence comprises a plurality of bytes;

and wherein said key encryptor deletes at least one byte from the key sequence prior to generation of the cipher text by said logic circuit.

17. A secure mobile ad-hoc network node comprising:

a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless communications link with at least one adjacent node;

a plain text source;

a seed generator for performing a hashing algorithm using a secret key and a changing reference value for generating a seed;

a random initialization vector (IV) generator for generating a random IV;

a key encryptor receiving the seed and the random IV and generating a key sequence based thereon; and

a logic circuit generating cipher text for transmission to the at least one adjacent node over the wireless communications link and based upon the key sequence and the plain text.

18. The node of claim 17 wherein the wireless communications device has associated therewith a media access controller (MAC) layer;

and wherein the changing reference value comprises a MAC layer sequence number.

19. The node of claim 17 wherein said seed generator performs the hashing algorithm using the secret key, the changing reference value, and an address of the node.

20. The node of claim 17 further comprising an integrity checker for generating an integrity check value based upon the plain text;

and wherein said logic circuit generates the cipher text based upon the key sequence, the plain text, and the integrity check value.

21. The node of claim 20 wherein said integrity checker comprises a checksum generator.

22. The node of claim 17 further comprising a concatenator for concatenating the seed and the random IV;

and wherein said key encryptor generates the key sequence based upon the concatenation of the seed and the random IV.

23. The node of claim 17 wherein said key encryptor comprises a pseudo-random number generator.

24. The node of claim 17 wherein said seed generator performs a single-phase hashing algorithm.

25. A secure mobile ad-hoc network node comprising:

a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless communications link with at least one adjacent node;

a plain text source;

a random initialization vector (IV) generator for generating a random IV;

a seed generator for performing a hashing algorithm using a secret key and the random IV for generating a seed;

a key encryptor generating a key sequence based upon the seed; and

a logic circuit generating cipher text for transmission to the at least one adjacent node over the wireless communications link and based upon the key sequence and the plain text.

26. The node of claim 25 wherein said seed generator performs the hashing algorithm using the secret key, the random IV, and an address of the node.

27. The node of claim 25 further comprising an integrity checker for generating an integrity check value based upon the plain text;

and wherein said logic circuit generates the cipher text based upon the key sequence, the plain text, and the integrity check value.

28. The node of claim 27 wherein said integrity checker comprises a checksum generator.

29. The node of claim 25 wherein said key encryptor comprises a pseudo-random number generator.

30. The node of claim 25 wherein said seed generator performs a single-phase hashing algorithm.

31. A mobile ad-hoc network comprising:

a plurality of nodes comprising a source node and at least one adjacent node, said source node comprising

a wireless communications device for establishing a wireless communications link with said at least one adjacent node,

a plain text source,

a seed generator for performing a one-way algorithm using a secret key for generating a seed,

a key encryptor receiving the seed and generating a key sequence based thereon, and

a logic circuit generating cipher text for transmission to the at least one adjacent node over the wireless communications link and based upon the key sequence and the plain text.

32. The mobile ad-hoc network of claim 31 wherein the one-way algorithm comprises a hashing algorithm.

33. The mobile ad-hoc network of claim 31 wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and a changing reference value to generate the seed.

34. The node of claim 33 wherein the wireless communications device has associated therewith a media access controller (MAC) layer;

and wherein the changing reference value comprises a MAC layer sequence number.

35. The node of claim 31 wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and an address of the node.

36. The node of claim 31 further comprising a random initialization vector (IV) generator for generating a random IV;

and wherein said seed generator performs the one-way algorithm using the secret key and the random IV.

37. The node of claim 36 wherein said random IV generator is coupled to said wireless communications device, and wherein said wireless communications device also transmits the random IV with the cipher text.

38. A communications method for a mobile ad-hoc network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

performing a one-way algorithm at a source node using a secret key to generate a seed;

generating a key sequence at the source node based upon the seed;

generating cipher text at the source node based upon the key sequence and the plain text; and

transmitting the cipher text from the source node to at least one adjacent node.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein performing the one-way algorithm comprises performing a hashing algorithm.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein performing the one-way algorithm comprises performing the one-way algorithm using the secret key and a changing reference value.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the changing reference value comprises a MAC layer sequence number.

42. The method of claim 38 wherein performing the one-way algorithm comprises performing the one-way algorithm using the secret key and an address of the node.

43. The method of claim 38 further comprising generating a random initialization vector (IV) at the source node;

and wherein performing the one-way algorithm comprises performing the one-way algorithm using the secret key and the random IV.

44. The method of claim 38 further comprising generating an integrity check value at the source node based upon the plain text.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein generating the cipher text comprises generating the cipher text based upon the key sequence, the plain text, and the integrity check value.

46. The method of claim 38 further comprising generating a random initialization vector (IV) and concatenating the seed and the random IV at the source node;

and wherein generating the key sequence comprises generating the key sequence based upon the concatenation of the seed and the random IV.