Distributed Overlays in Wireless Sensor Networks

i This thesis investigates two architectures and compares their suitability for selective application and user differentiation in sensor networks. A hierarchical architecture consisting of more capable cluster heads surrounded by weaker nodes is compared to a flat architecture of equally powerful nodes. In both architectures there exists a logical overlay network that connects the nodes, depending on the application and user. Furthermore, a broadcast encryption scheme is proposed to aid in distributing keys to nodes for secure communication and to maintain these restricted groups