Fault-tolerance and efficiency considerations for key distribution protocols in MANETs

In this paper we address the Fault-Tolerance and Efficiency of key distribution protocols for group communications in Mobile AdHoc Networks. Most key distribution protocols that exist today are primarily designed for wireline networks. These protocols either fail to work as intended or cannot work at all when they are applied to the demanding environment of MANETs. The main reasons for this are: frequent node failures, network partitions and merges, inefficient computational and communication capabilities of certain wireless nodes, network delay, bad quality of signal etc. We determine the framework under which protocols can efficiently work in MANETs, design new protocols or modify existing ones, so that they can be robust, scalable and applicable in this environment. We classify these protocols in two families: contributory and non-contributory. We evaluate them from the point of view of MANETs and compare their performance.