SRPTES: A Secure Routing Protocol Based on Token Escrow Set for Ad Hoc Networks

Ad hoc networks, which do not rely on fixed infrastructure such as base stations, can be deployed rapidly and inexpensively in situations with geographical or time constraints. However, the nature of ad hoc networks makes them vulnerable to attacks, especially in routing protocols. In order to establish a secure route composed only by trusted nodes and prevent routes from being tampered by internal malicious nodes, we present a novel secure routing protocol based on token escrow set (SRPTES). SRPTES employs token with limited lifetime to control the trust relationships between neighboring nodes, and provides secure routing and packet forwarding services through valid token. As the core of SRPTES, it creates completely distributed and localized token escrow set (TES) which can maintain robust trust relationships among nodes and greatly reduce the overhead of key management. The simulation results show that SRPTES provides an effective security enhancement and improves the efficiency of routing establishment in insecure environment.