Evaluating the Impact of Broadcast Rates and Collisions on Fake Source Protocols for Source Location Privacy

Abstract

Providing source location privacy has become a relevant issue for protocols used in the context of wireless sensor networks. In particular, where an asset is monitored using a wireless sensor network it is often the case that the location of the asset being monitored should be concealed from those eavesdropping on the network. The use of fake sources represents an approach to addressing the source location privacy problem. This paper explores practical factors for the configuration and application of fake source protocols, with a focus on the interplay between the broadcast rates of sensor nodes, message collisions and achieved privacy. Combined with existing work in energy efficient fake source protocols, these contributions evidence the existence of an effective range of broadcast rates for fake source protocols.