Forming a cluster-mesh topology to boost base-station anonymity in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) may consist of a large number of resource-constrained sensor nodes. These nodes probe their surroundings and transmit their measurements over multi-hop routes to an in-situ Base-Station (BS). Given the critical role of the BS, it can be targeted by an adversary's attack. Basically, the adversary may intercept transmissions made by the individual nodes, even without being able to decode them, and apply techniques, such as Evidence Theory (ET), to uncover the routing topology. The fact that the BS is a sink for all data traffic makes it possible for the traffic analysis to reveal the location of the BS. This paper proposes a novel cross-layer approach to boost the BS anonymity by forming clusters and a cluster-mesh routing topology. Basically, a set of sensor nodes in a WSN are grouped into non-overlapping clusters, each is led by a cluster head (CH). A CH aggregates data from its cluster members. A mesh topology is then formed for all CHs and BS for dissemination of the aggregated data. The BS participates in the inter-CH packet forwarding so that it does not become distinguishable among the CHs. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.