Secure wearable and implantable body sensor networks in hazardous environments

Abstract

The aim of Wearable and implantable monitoring devices is to collect relevant data from the application-related environment, and transmit this information to the outside world. Modern microelectronics create ever increasing opportunities, but it is still true that sensors form the weakest elements in the entire chain of data collection and processing. The difficulty of deploying smart body sensor networks is exacerbated by the hostile environments in which they are typically installed. In this paper, we propose a novel architecture for wearable and implantable body sensor systems that guarantees both real-time responsiveness and security. We rely on the wavelet packet transform to develop an intelligent session management scheme where a customizable frame structure allows multiplexing the set of sessions between the elementary sensors and the analysis center. We introduce a lightweight identity-based encryption protocol suitable for body smart sensor systems. We also present performance results using simulation experiments.