Specialists from the North Caucasus Federal University (SKFU) have collaborated with researchers from the Institute of System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as colleagues from Mexico, the Republic of Korea, and Uruguay, to develop a unique communication protocol for smart cities. The details of their work were published in the scientific journal Sensors.
A smart city is a complex infrastructure that incorporates elements such as video surveillance, emergency calling systems, biometric systems, city and banking services, as well as intelligent transportation. In order for these large-scale networks to function efficiently, rapid connection, reliability, and secure data exchange are crucial.
The protocol developed by the team utilizes an adaptive multiple route approach. This increases the stability of the sensory network against various types of attacks and also simplifies the process of creating and maintaining the city.
This protocol is based on the routing of the Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) network, where each node is responsible for forwarding data to other nodes. Andrey Gladkov, a junior researcher at SKFU, explained, “There are no difficulties in setting up infrastructure and administration in such networks, which allows devices to create networks and connect to them instantly.”
The new approach incorporates the use of residual classes and secretion schemes for encryption. The encryption key is divided among all participants in the network, while decryption requires collecting all the key fragments. This method provides additional security, as an attacker cannot use an intercepted fragment in isolation.
According to the researchers, the new protocol overcomes the limitations of traditional encryption methods. This not only reduces data redundancy but also saves energy and message volume.
Gladkov concluded by stating that the scientific team’s future task is to further enhance the created protocol and build a network to test it.