Wireless networks can offer a wide variety of
important applications that could have a significant impact. However, the open
medium, especially the open architecture of mobile ad hoc networks, make such
networks vulnerable to many types of network dynamics such as potential attacks
and routing malfunction. Thus, we are actively pursuing solutions to
protecting wireless networks and achieving a good balance between system
performance and network protection.
Resilient network
topology
In the presence of multiple failures such as DoS attacks, selfishness, and node
mobility, how to discover a trusty-worthy network topology is the key to
communications and information delivery. This process is carried out via route
discovery which could be interrupted by node misbehaviors, such as dropping
data packets and redirecting routing control packets.
There are quite a few challenges in realizing resilient network topologies in wireless multi-hop networks. First, the topology control should maximize the resilience of a network while keeping the connectivity with high probability. Second, new metrics need to be defined to evaluate the resilience of overlays/networks and verify the effectiveness of any solution. Third, a simple but efficient scheme with short convergence time is needed to detect misbehaving nodes and also the cooperativeness of each node must be measured quantitatively. Therefore, we are developing algorithms and protocols that minimize the impact of neighboring node failures by selecting a subset of neighbor nodes, which will be used for succeeding path selection in multi-hop wireless networks.
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| The original network without applying any topology control | The resilient overlay generated where solid blue dots are cooperative nodes and hollow red dots are misbehaving nodes. |
Publications
- Fei Xing and Wenye Wang, " On Resilient Overlay Topology Formation in Multi-hop Wireless Networks", in Proc. of IFIP International Conference on Networking (NETWORKING '07), May 2007, LNCS 4479, pp. 1-12.
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Fei Xing and Wenye Wang, "
Analyzing Resilience to Node Misbehaviors
in Wireless Multi-hop Networks ",
in Proc. of IEEE Wireless Communications
and Networking Conference (WCNC '07), March 2007. >> More
STEP2: Self-Tuned Performance and Protection
Our experimental studies and other research results have revealed that, in general, strong protection induces high performance overhead. Considering that user applications and wireless channel conditions, such as error rates and packet losses, may vary from time to time, it may not be feasible to apply strong security solutions all the time in wireless networks.
Therefore, we proposed a Self-TunEd Performance and Protection (STEP2) management system for wireless LANs, in which an adaptive and dynamic scheme is used to switch network protection (security policies) for optimizing network performance. STEP2 is composed of three modules: the monitor, the decision maker, and the tuner. The monitor receives feedback over wireless links periodically; the decision maker carries out the algorithm regarding the tuning of security policies; the tuner is the element that implements changing security policy and maintain the communication.
Publications
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Avesh K. Agarwal and Wenye Wang, "DSPM: Dynamic Security Policy Management
for Optimizing Performance in Wireless Networks,"
in the Proc. of IEEE Milcom'06,
Washington, D.C. October 2006. >>
More