A Lightweight Fingerprint-based Device Authentication Architecture for Wireless Industrial Automation Networks

Wireless Industrial Automation Networks (WIANs) have a large number of advantages compared to wired ones, such as self-organizing and easy installation. In WIANs, network security is one of the essential concerns of users in industry. To ensure the network security of WIANs, a huge amount of device authentication schemes have been proposed, such as digital signature and electromagnetic fingerprint. However, they either rely on digital signatures that could be leaked or require professional equipment (like channel sounders) that are costly. To solve these problems, this study presents a lightweight fingerprint-based authentication architecture for WIANs utilizing the characteristics of Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) signals. The proposed architecture is composed of sensors to monitor the industrial process, anchors to retrieve the fingerprint of wireless signals, and a lightweight module for device authentication. In this architecture, no costly equipment is required to capture the fingerprint of wireless signals. Simulation experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented architecture.