Efficient trust node aware routing in ZigBee communication network of smart grid

Abstract

ZigBee plays a crucial role in the smart grid communication system primarily due to its low cost when transmitting information. Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing protocol has been used in ZigBee Network layer. As complicated structures are deployed in the smart grid, a secure communication network environment is needed for facilitating effective data communications. Trust nodes can be added to ZigBee for monitoring the network traffic for malicious attacks. In this paper, two approaches are proposed for adding trust nodes to the AODV hop-by-hop routing algorithm. Scenarios of route searching in mesh networks with different sizes are simulated by including at least one trust node in each route. Evaluation results indicate both security and efficiency could be ensured by adding the trust nodes into the ZigBee communication network.