WIRELESS SENSORS & NETWORKS Mr. V. NAVEEN RAJA & Mr. A.

RAVINDRA BABU

UNIT-II
NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES
Syllabus: Physical Layer and Transceiver Design Considerations, Personal area networks (PANs),
hidden node and exposed node problem, Topologies of PANs, MANETs, WANETs.

2.1 PHYSICAL LAYER AND TRANSCEIVER DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS IN WSNs:

Wireless sensor networks have characteristics that are different from traditional wireless
networks. For example, nodes have more simple power constraints, although they may transmit at
shorter distances and lower data rates. In this Chapter, we consider the specific physical layer
requirements of wireless sensor networks, taking into consideration the particular characteristics
and usage setups of wireless sensor networks. We find that spread spectrum technologies meet
the requirements much better than narrowband technologies. Furthermore, Ultra- Wideband
technologies are found to be a promising emerging alternative.
Wireless sensor networks share many of the problems and challenges of traditional
wireless networks, such as the nature of the challenges presented by multipath wireless channels,
as well as bandwidth and power constraints. There are additional challenges and constraints that
are in WSN as size and cost, from which other constraints like power, processing power and
memory constraints are derived.
In general, there may be both sensing and non-sensing nodes in a wireless sensor network,
i.e. all sensors are nodes but not all nodes are sensors. The non-sensing nodes assist in
communications but dont themselves sense data. The non-sensing nodes may have less power
constraints than do the sensing nodes.

2.1.1 Physical Layer Requirements/ Considerations:

The physical layer in wireless networked sensors has to be designed with sensor networking
requirements in mind. In particular
The Communication device must be containable in a small size, since the sensor nodes are
small. So cheaper, slightly larger antennas may be acceptable in those cases.
The Communication devices must be cheap, since the sensors will be used in large numbers
in redundant fashion.
The radio technology must work with higher layers in the protocol stack to consume very
low power levels.
For all the above reasons, the physical layer cannot be too complex. Therefore, the nature and
complexity of the physical layer processing is an important consideration in selecting a physical
layer technology for wireless networked sensors.
Another consideration is interference from other devices that are not part of the wireless
sensor network. Since nodes are densely deployed in wireless sensor networks, they may interfere
more with one another than in traditional wireless networks. Although the lower transmission
powers of the devices help reduce the interference they cause to one another, interference is still
a problem. Sophisticated noise canceling algorithms such as antenna arrays to be used.
Furthermore, link layer and physical layer synchronization is an important issue. For sensor
networks, the link and physical layers must be designed to allow relative synchronization between
communicating nodes.
Yet another consideration in evaluating physical layers for wireless sensor networks is in
the capability to re-use radio technology. This applies to sensors where the sensing itself relies on
radio waves. Unless excessive interference between sensing and communications signals can be
avoided, the benefits of radio reuse may not be realizable.

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Next one is Antenna considerations, the desired small form factor of the overall sensor
nodes restricts the size and the number of antennas. If the antenna is much smaller than the
carriers wavelength, it is hard to achieve good antenna efficiency, that is, with ill-sized antennas
one must spend more transmit energy to obtain the same radiated energy. With small sensor node
cases, it will be hard to place two antennas with suitable distance to achieve receive diversity. The
antennas should be spaced apart at least 4050% of the wavelength used to achieve good effects
from diversity.
Finally, the ability to do physical layer multicasting is useful. By physical layer multicasting,
we mean that a signal can be sent to multiple receivers at the same time, but not necessarily
broadcast. The desired receivers are able to receive the desired signal, and the other receivers to
filter it out, at the physical layer. Of course, the filtering can be done higher in the protocol stack as
well, but that consumes more resources than physical layer multicasting.

2.1.2 Physical layer Evaluation of Technologies:

We consider 3 main classes of physical layer technologies for use in wireless sensor
networks, based on bandwidth considerations:
a) Narrowband technologies
b) Spread spectrum technologies
c) Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technologies.

(a) Narrow band Technologies: Narrow-band technologies employ a radio bandwidth, W, that is
narrow in the sense that it is on the order of the symbol rate. In fact, if M-ary symbols are used
(using higher-level modulation schemes), then each symbol conveys bits of information.
Therefore the bandwidth efficiency is where R is the data rate in bits per unit time. is often
described in bits per second per hertz. Note that the Shannon capacity, in bits per second per
hertz, can be expressed as: ---------------- (1)
Where
In Majority of traditional systems bandwidth is limited due to regulatory and/or licensing
constraints in narrow frequencies. An important objective in the design of such systems is to
maximize achievable data rate. Therefore, it becomes desirable to increase , which may increase
the . Since real modulation schemes do not achieve capacity, so the modulation schemes like
4QAM, 16QAM and 64-QAM are used.

(b) Spread spectrum technologies: The advantages of spread spectrum systems over narrow
band systems includes
Low probability of detection
Low probability of interrupt
Ability to communicate with low power
Noise-like signals and noise-like interference to other receivers
Robustness to narrow-band interference
Multiple-access to the same frequency band by several transmitters
Robustness to multipath channel impairments
Properly designed spread spectrum systems can achieve higher effective SNR than equal-rate
narrowband systems, for the same transmit power. This gain, at the expense of bandwidth, is often
quantified as processing gain, which is the ratio of transmission bandwidth to data bandwidth.

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Advantages 3 through 5 are especially useful for sensor networks. In addition, spread spectrum is
good for physical layer multicasting. There are a variety of spread spectrum technologies, the most
widespread of which is Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS). In DS-SS, a narrowband signal
is spread into a wideband signal, by modulating it with a high rate chip sequence. The chip
sequence is pseudorandom, giving the resultant signal its characteristic properties. Another
common variety of spread spectrum is Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FH-SS). In FH-SS, the
spreading is achieved by hopping the signal over a wide range of frequencies, where the
sequence of hopped to frequencies is pseudo-random.

(c) Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technologies: Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology can he thought

of as an extreme case of spread spectrum technology with many proposed applications in
communications. Its characteristics include:
(i) Large bandwidths. The transmission bandwidths employed by UWB systems is usually
much larger than the transmission bandwidths of typical spread spectrum systems, being
on the order of gigahertz rather than megahertz.
(ii) Large fractional bandwidths. UWB systems tend to have relatively larger fractional
bandwidths than traditional communications systems.

The technologies are now compared according to various criteria, and rated. The ratings are
collected together in TABLE- 2.1. The ratings are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating
(very poor) and 5 being the best (very good).

S. No Criterion Narrow Band Spread Spectrum UWB

1 Device Size 4 4 4
2 Cost 3 3 4
3 Power Consumption 2 4 5
4 Low range, Low data rate 3 4 5
5 Robustness to interference 1 4 5
6 Robustness to Noise 2 4 5
7 Ease of Synchronization 3 5 2
8 Radio Reusability 2 2 4
9 Physical Layer multicast 1 4 5
10 Regularity Issues 2 4 3
Table 2.1: Rating of technologies bye criteria

2.2 PERSONAL AREA NETWORKs(PANs):

1. Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to introduce the idea of Personal Area
Network (PAN).
2. The communication network established for the purpose of connecting computer devices
of personal use is known as PAN (Personal Area Network).
3. When a network is established by connecting phone lines to PDAs (Personal Digital
Assistants), this communication is known as PAN (Personal Area Network).
4. PANs can be wired (USB or FireWire) or wireless (infrared, ZigBee, Bluetooth, UWB).
5. Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) can perform really efficient operations if we
connect them with specialized devices.
6. The range of a PAN typically is a few meters.
7. Examples of wireless PAN, or WPAN, devices include cell phone headsets, wireless
keyboards, wireless mice, printers, bar code scanners and game consoles.

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2.2.1 Examples for PANs:

Examples-1:
1. Blue tooth wireless PAN:
These are referred as Pico nets. Pico nets are Ad hoc networks.
Pico nets work over a range of 200metres and transmit data of about 2100 Kbit/ sec.
The Bluetooth technology is based on IEEE 802.15 standard.
The wearable and portable computer devices communicate with each other.
In this process of hand shake, an electric field is generated around people, and they emit
Pico amps.
These emissions complete the circuit and hence an exchange of information takes place.

Examples-2:
2. ZigBee:
It is a short-range, low-power computer networking protocol that complies with the IEEE
802.15.4 standard.
In the U.S., ZigBee devices operate in the 902-928 MHz and 2.4 GHz unlicensed bands.
ZigBee employs DS-SS modulation with a gross data rate of 40 kb/s in the 900 MHz band
and 250 kb/s in the 2.4 GHz band.
There are three types of ZigBee devices:
ZigBee Coordinator (ZC): Forming the root of the network tree and bridging to other
networks ,
ZigBee Router (ZR): It can run an application function as well as act as an
intermediate router by passing data from other devices.
ZigBee End Device (ZED): It contains just enough functionality to talk to its parent
node. It can sleep most of the time, extending its battery life.

Examples-3:
3. Ultra-Wide Band(UWB):
It is a radio technology useful for short-range, high-bandwidth communications that does
not create harmful interference to users sharing the same band.
A pulse-based UWB method is the basis of the IEEE 802.15.4a draft standard

Examples-4:
4. Wi-Fi or WiMAX
Wi-Fi or WiFi is a technology for wireless local area networking with devices based on the
IEEE 802.11 standards.

2.3 HIDDEN NODE AND EXPOSED NODE PROBLEM:

In WSN, to exchange data two exchange control frames are used before transmitting data
1. Request to Send(RTS)
2. Clear to Send(CTS)
RTS/CTS is the optional mechanism used by the 802.11 wireless networking protocol to reduce
frame collisions introduced by the hidden node problem. The RTS/CTS frames can cause a new
problem called the exposed terminal problem. These control frames duty includes
1. If sender sees CTS, transmits data.
2. If other node sees CTS, will idle for specified period.
3. If other node sees RTS but not CTS, free to send

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2.3.1 Hidden terminal problem:

Other senders information are hidden from the current sender, so that transmissions at the same
receiver cause collisions. That is for example if two persons are trying to communicate third
person at the same time, then third person will be in dilemma to which person he has to
communicate. At that time for proper communication one of the sender will hide another sender
by dominating. In the similar fashion other senders information are hidden from the current
sender. This problem is called Hidden terminal/Node problem

(a) (b)
Figure 2.1 (a) & (b) Hidden node problem

Figure 2.2 Data transmission in Hidden node problem

From figure 2.1(b) we can observe that transmitters T1 and T2 cant see each other, both send to
receiver R. Then RTS/CTS can help
Both T1 and T2 would send RTS that R would see first.
R only responds with one CTS (say, echoing T1s RTS).
T2 detects that CTS doesnt match and wont send.

2.3.2 Exposed terminal problem:

The sender mistakenly thinks that the medium is in use, so that it unnecessarily defers the
transmission. That is for example if in a communication network there are two
transmitters and two receivers, then one sender/transmitter exchanges RTS-CTS with one
receiver, then second sender mistakenly thinks that the medium is in use, so it needlessly
submits the transmission. From figure 2.3(b) we can observe that T1 sending to R1, T2
wants to send to R2. As T2 receives packets, carrier sense would prevent it from sending to
R2, even though wouldnt interfere. Then RTS/CTS can help
T2 hears RTS from T1, but not CTS from R1

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T2 knows its transmission will not interfere at T1s receiver

T2 is safe to transmit to R2.

(a) (b)
Figure 2.3 (a) & (b) Exposed Node/terminal problem

Figure 2.4 Data transmission in Exposed node problem

2.4 Wireless Ad-hoc Networks (WANETs):

Wireless ad hoc network (WANET) is a decentralized technology designed for the

establishment of a network anywhere and anytime without any fixed infrastructure to support the
mobility of the users in the network. The network is ad-hoc because each node is willing to
forward data for other nodes. Wireless ad-hoc networks can be further classified by their
application:
1. Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs): MANET is a continuously self-configuring,
infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected without wires.
2. Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs): VANETs are used for communication between
vehicles and roadside equipment.
3. Intelligent vehicular ad hoc networks: In VANETs are a kind of artificial intelligence that
helps vehicles to behave in intelligent manners during vehicle-to-vehicle collisions,
accidents. Vehicles are using radio waves to communicate with each other.
4. Smart-Phone Ad-hoc networks (SPANs): SPANs influence the existing hardware
(primarily Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) in commercially available smartphones to create peer-to-
peer networks without depends on cellular carrier networks, wireless access points, or
traditional network infrastructure.
5. Internet-based Mobile Ad-hoc networks (iMANETs): iMANETs are ad hoc networks that
link mobile nodes and fixed Internet-gateway nodes.

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Figure 2.5 Example of Wireless Ad-hoc Network (WANET)

2.5 Mobile Ad-HOC Networks (MANETs):
A Mobile Ad-hoc Network is a collection of independent mobile nodes that can
communicate to each other via radio waves. A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a continuously
self-configuring, infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected wirelessly. Each device
in a MANET is free to move independently in any direction, and will therefore change its links to
other devices frequently. The mobile nodes that are in radio range of each other can directly
communicate, whereas others needs the aid of intermediate nodes to route their packets. Each of
the node has a wireless interface to communicate with each other.

Example of MANETs: Node 1 and node 3 are not within range of each other, however the node 2
can be used to forward packets between node 1and node 2. The node 2 will act as a router and
these three nodes together form an ad-hoc Network.

Figure 2.6: Example of MANETs

2.5.1 MANETs Characteristics:
1. Distributed operation: There is no central control of the network operations, the control of
the network is distributed among the nodes.
2. Multi hop routing: When a node tries to send information to other nodes which is out of its
range, the packet should be forwarded via one or more intermediate nodes.

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3. Autonomous terminal: In MANET, each mobile node is an independent node (could function
as host/router).
4. Dynamic topology: Nodes are free to move arbitrarily with different speeds; thus, the
network topology may change randomly and at unpredictable time.
5. Light-weight terminals: The nodes at MANET are mobile with less CPU capability, low
power storage and small memory size.
6. Shared Physical Medium: The wireless communication medium is accessible to any entity
with the appropriate equipment and adequate resources.

2.5.2 MANETs Challenges:

1. Limited bandwidth: Wireless link continue to have significantly lower capacity than
infrastructured networks. In addition, the realized throughput of wireless communication
after accounting for the effect of multiple access, fading, noise, and interference conditions,
etc., is often much less than a radios maximum transmission rate.
2. Dynamic topology: Dynamic topology membership may disturb the trust relationship
among nodes. The trust may also be disturbed if some nodes are detected as compromised.
3. Routing Overhead: In wireless adhoc networks, nodes often change their location within
network. So, some stale routes are generated in the routing table which leads to
unnecessary routing overhead.
4. Hidden terminal problem: The hidden terminal problem refers to the collision of packets at
a receiving node due to the simultaneous transmission of those nodes that are not within
the direct transmission range of the sender, but are within the transmission range of the
receiver.
5. Packet losses due to transmission errors: Ad hoc wireless networks experiences a much
higher packet loss due to factors such as increased collisions due to the presence of hidden
terminals, presence of interference, uni-directional links, frequent path breaks due to
mobility of nodes.
6. Mobility-induced route changes: The network topology in an ad hoc wireless network is
highly dynamic due to the movement of nodes; hence an on-going session suffers frequent
path breaks. This situation often leads to frequent route changes.
7. Battery constraints: Devices used in these networks have restrictions on the power source
in order to maintain portability, size and weight of the device.
8. Security threats: The wireless mobile ad hoc nature of MANETs brings new security
challenges to the network design. As the wireless medium is vulnerable to eavesdropping
and ad hoc network functionality is established through node cooperation, mobile ad hoc
networks are intrinsically exposed to numerous security attacks.

2.5.3 MANET VULNERABILIES:

Vulnerability is a weakness in security system. A particular system may be vulnerable
to unauthorized data manipulation because the system does not verify a users identity before
allowing data access.
MANET is more vulnerable than wired network. Some of the vulnerabilities are as follows:
1. Lack of centralized management: MANET doesnt have a centralized monitor server. The
absence of management makes the detection of attacks difficult because it is not east to
monitor the traffic in a highly dynamic and large scale ad-hoc network.
2. No predefined Boundary: In mobile ad- hoc networks we cannot precisely define a physical
boundary of the network. The nodes work in a nomadic environment where they are

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allowed to join and leave the wireless network. As soon as an adversary comes in the radio
range of a node it will be able to communicate with that node.
3. Cooperativeness: Routing algorithm for MANETs usually assumes that nodes are
cooperative and non-malicious. As a result a malicious attacker can easily become an
important routing agent and disrupt network operation.
4. Limited power supply: The nodes in mobile ad-hoc network need to consider restricted
power supply, which will cause several problems. A node in mobile ad-hoc network may
behave in a selfish manner when it is finding that there is only limited power supply.
5. Adversary inside the Network: The mobile nodes within the MANET can freely join and leave
the network. The nodes within network may also behave maliciously. This is hard to detect
that the behavior of the node is malicious. Thus this attack is more dangerous than the
external attack.

2.5.4 ROUTING PROTOCOLS:

Ad-Hoc network routing protocols are commonly divided into three main classes as
Proactive, Reactive and Hybrid protocols.

Figure 2.7 Routing protocols in MANETs

1) Proactive Protocols: Proactive, or table-driven routing protocols. In proactive routing, each node
has to maintain one or more tables to store routing information, and any changes in network
topology need to be reflected by propagating updates throughout the network in order to
maintain a consistent network view. Examples of such schemes are the conventional routing
schemes: Destination sequenced distance vector (DSDV). They attempt to maintain consistent, up-
to-date routing information of the whole network. It minimizes the delay in communication and
allows nodes to quickly determine which nodes are present or reachable in the network.

2) Reactive Protocols: Reactive routing is also known as on-demand routing protocol since they do
not maintain routing information or routing activity at the network nodes if there is no
communication. If a node wants to send a packet to another node then this protocol searches for
the route in an on-demand manner and establishes the connection in order to transmit and
receive the packet. The route discovery occurs by flooding the route request packets throughout
the network. Examples of reactive routing protocols are the Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector
routing (AODV) and Dynamic Source Routing (DSR).

3) Hybrid Protocols: They introduces a hybrid model that combines reactive and proactive routing
protocols. The Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP) is a hybrid routing protocol that divides the network
into zones. ZRP provides a hierarchical architecture where each node has to maintain additional
topological information requiring extra memory.

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2.5.5 Security Attacks in MANETs:

he attacks can be categorized into two types based on behavior as Passive or Active attack.
1. Passive attacks: It does not alter the data transmitted within the network. But it includes
the unauthorized listening to the network traffic or accumulates/collects data from it.
2. Active attacks: Active attacks are very severe attacks on the network that prevent message
flow between the nodes.
They can be internal or external. Active attacks are classified into three groups:
a) Dropping Attacks: Compromised nodes or selfish nodes can drop all packets that are not
destined for them.
b) Modification Attacks:. These attacks modify packets and disturb the overall communication
between network nodes.
c) Fabrication Attacks: In this attacker send fake message to the neighbouring nodes without
receiving any related message.

2.5.6 MANETs Applications:

Some of the typical applications include:
1. Military battlefield: Ad-Hoc networking would allow the military to take advantage of
commonplace network technology to maintain an information network between the
soldiers, vehicles, and military information head quarter.
2. Collaborative work: For some business environments, the need for collaborative computing
might be more important outside office environments than inside and where people do
need to have outside meetings to cooperate and exchange information on a given project.
3. Local level: Ad-Hoc networks can autonomously link an instant and temporary multimedia
network using notebook computers to spread and share information among participants at
a e.g. conference or classroom. Another appropriate local level application might be in
home networks where devices can communicate directly to exchange information.
4. Personal Area Network and Bluetooth: A personal area network is a short range, localized
network where nodes are usually associated with a given person. Short-range MANET such
as Bluetooth can simplify the inter communication between various mobile devices such as
a laptop, and a mobile phone.
5. Commercial Sector: Ad hoc can be used in emergency/rescue operations for disaster relief
efforts, e.g. in fire, flood, or earthquake. Emergency rescue operations must take place
where non-existing or damaged communications infrastructure and rapid deployment of a
communication network is needed.

2.6 Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs):

VANETs are used for communication between vehicles and roadside equipment. A Vehicular Ad-
Hoc Network or VANET is a sub form of Mobile Ad-Hoc Network or MANET that provides
communication between vehicles and between vehicles and road-side base stations with an aim of
providing efficient and safe transportation. A vehicle in VANET is considered to be an intelligent
mobile node capable of communicating with its neighbors and other vehicles in the network.
VANET introduces more challenges aspects as compare to MANET because of high mobility of
nodes and fast topology changes in VANET. Various routing protocols have been designed and
presented by researchers after considering the major challenges involved in VANETs. VANET can
achieve affective communication between moving node by using different ad-hoc networking
tools such as Wi-fi IEEE 802.11 b/g, WiMAX IEEE 802.10, Bluetooth, IRA.

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2.6.1 Characteristics of VANETs

There are various appealing and attractive features that make a difference from other types of
networks.
1) High Mobility: The nodes present in VANETs move at a very high speed. These moving
nodes can be protected saved from attacks and other security threats only if their location
is predicable. High mobility leads to various other issues in VANET
2) Rapidly Changing Network Topology: Vehicles moving at high speed in VANET lead to quick
changes in network topology.
3) No Power constraints: Power constraint always exists in various networks but in VANETs
vehicles are able to provide power to on board unit (OBU) via the long life battery. So
energy constraint is not always an essential challenge as in MANETs.
4) Unbounded Network Size: The network size in VANET is geographically unbounded because
it can be generated for one city or one country.
5) Time Critical: Timely delivery of information is very essential. Actions can be performed
accordingly only when information is available when it is required.
6) Frequent changing information: Ad-Hoc nature of VANET motivates the nodes to gather
information from other vehicles and roadside units. As vehicles move and change their
path, information related to traffic and environment also changes very rapidly.
7) Wireless Communication: Nodes are connected and exchange their information through
wireless.
8) Variable network density: The network density is changed according to traffic density; it is
very high in traffic jam and low in suburban traffic.
9) High computability ability: Due to computational resources and sensors, the computational
capacity of the node is increased.

2.6.2 Components of VANETs:

VANET is an autonomous self-organizing wireless network. VANETs contains following entities:
1) Vehicles: Vehicles are the nodes of vehicular network. VANET address the wireless
communication between vehicles (V2V) and between vehicles and infrastructure access
point (V2I).
2) Infrastructure: Infrastructure related to outside environment include road side base
station. Base stations are the roadside unit and they are located at dedicated location like
junctions or near parking spaces. Their main functions are to increase the communication
area of the ad hoc network by re-allocating the information to others and to run safety
application like low bridge warning, accident warning etc.
3) Communication channels: Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with
wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have
frequencies from 190 GHz to 3Khz. Radio propagation model plays a strong role in the
performance of a protocol to determine the number of nodes within one collision domain.

2.6.3 Communication in VANET:

Various types of communication technique are used in VANET. Some of them are given below:
1) Vehicle to Vehicle Communication: It refers to inter vehicle communication. Vehicles or a
group of vehicles connect with one another and communicate like point to point
architecture. It proves to be very helpful for cooperative driving.
2) Vehicle to Infrastructure Communication: Number of base stations positioned in close
proximity with a fixed infrastructure to the highways is necessary to provide the facility of

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uploading/downloading of data from/to the vehicles. Each infrastructure access point

covers a cluster.
3) Cluster to Cluster Communication: In VANETs network is split into clusters that are self-
managed group of vehicles. Base Station Manager Agent (BSMA) enables communications
between the clusters. BSMA of one cluster communicates with that of other cluster.

Figure 2.8 Example of VANET

2.6.4 Security Requirements for VANETs:

1) Authentication: In VANET greedy drivers or the other adversaries can be condensed to a
greater extent by authentication mechanism that ensures that the messages are sent by the
actual nodes. Authentication, however, increases privacy concerns, as a basic
authentication scheme of connecting the identity of the sender with the message. It,
therefore, is absolutely essential to validate that a sender has a certain property which
gives certification as per the application. For example, in location based services this
property could be that a vehicle is in a particular location from where it claims to be.
2) Message Integrity: Integrity of message ensures that the message is not changes in transit
that the messages the driver receives are not false.
3) Message Non-Repudiation: In this security based system a sender can be identified easily.
But only specific authority is approved for sender identification. Vehicle could be identified
from the authenticated messages it sends.
4) Access control: Vehicles must function according to rules and they should only perform
those tasks that they are authorized to do. Access control is ensured if nodes act according
to specified authorization and generate messages accordingly.
5) Message confidentiality: Confidentiality is required to maintain privacy in a system. Law
enforcement authority can only enforce this privacy between communicating nodes.
6) Privacy: This system is used to ensure that the information is not leaked to the
unauthorized people. Third parties should not be able to track vehicle movements as it is a
violation of personal privacy. Location privacy is also important so that no one should be
able to learn the past or future locations of vehicles.

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7) Real time guarantees: It is essential in VANET, as many safety related applications depend
on strict time guarantees. This feature is necessarily required in time sensitive road safety
applications to avoid collisions

2.6.5 Challenges in VANET:

There are many issues in VANET. Some of them are given below:
1) Technical Issue: Due to high portability, the network topology and channel condition
changes rapidly. It is difficult to manage network and control congestion collision in
network. In VANET the electromagnetic waves of communication are used and these are
affected by environment. Environmental impact need to be considered in VANET. Other
technical issues are related to design and architecture of Mac layer.
2) Security Issue: VANET is time critical where safety related message should be delivered
with 100ms transmission delay. Even authenticate node can perform malicious activities
than can disturb the network. The major challenge is to distribute privacy keys among
vehicles.
3) Security Requirement issue: Authentication ensures that the message is created by the
authorized user. Non repudiation means a node cant deny that she/he doesnt transmit
message. It may be crucial to determine correct sequence. A regular verification of data is
required to eliminate the false messaging.
4) Attackers on VANET:
a. Insider and outsider: Insiders are the authenticated members of network whereas
Outsiders are the intruders and hence limited capacity to attack.
b. Malicious and Rational: Malicious attackers have not any personal benefit after
attack; they just harm the functionality of the network. Rational attacks can be
predicable as they have the personal profit .
c. Active and Passive: Active attackers generate signals or packet whereas passive
attackers only sense the network.
5) Attacks in VANET: Hijackers hijacks the session easily after connection establishment.
Generally, a driver is itself owner of the vehicles so getting owners identity can put the
privacy at risk. Eavesdropping is a most common attack on confidentiality. Routing attacks
are the attacks which destroy the vulnerability of network layer routing protocols.

2.6.6 VANET: Smart vehicle

Figure 2.9 Smart vehicle used in VANETs

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WIRELESS SENSORS & NETWORKS Mr. V. NAVEEN RAJA & Mr. A. RAVINDRA BABU

EDR: Used in vehicles to register all important parameters, such as velocity, acceleration,
etc. especially during abnormal situations (accidents).
Forward radar: Used to detect any forward obstacles as far as 200 meters
Positioning System: Used to locate vehicles
Computing platform: Inputs from various components are used to generate useful
information
2.6.7 Intelligent vehicular ad hoc networks: InVANETs are a kind of artificial intelligence that
helps vehicles to behave in intelligent manners during vehicle-to-vehicle collisions, accidents.
Vehicles are using radio waves to communicate with each other.

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