Secure cross-layer routing protocol with authentication key management scheme for manets

MANET (Mobile ad-hoc networks) is typically a no-infrastructure multi-hop network where every node interacts with other network nodes either indirectly or directly via intermediate nodes. A lot of research is being undertaken to save the energy of mobile nodes at different levels. Power-relevant issues can have an effect on every layer of the stack, making the traditional layered approach ineffective. In this work, cross layered routing protocol based on PSO (Particle swarm optimization) with adapted contention window technique is proposed. To form consistent and energy efficient routing paths, PSO algorithm uses Traffic index, Average energy load, data success rate & trust value parameters that are computed from network layer. After establishing routing paths, network's contentions are measured MAC layers for communications and contention with measured contentions and average energy loads. The trust of nodes is computed using the following constraints: group trust-provided by neighbour nodes & quality trust-computed by node QoS. Dual authentications with EnDA (enhanced dual authentication) using key management strategies for enhanced data security and integrity. ECC (Elliptical curve cryptography) and Diffie-Hellman key exchanges with bilinear maps improve security of communications. The suggested protocol when measured in terms of energy usage and secure key agreements during network's transmissions, showed satisfactory performances. © 2023