Analysis of Location Privacy/Energy Efficiency Tradeoffs in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper an analytical framework is proposed for the evaluation of the tradeoffs between location privacy and energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks. We assume that random routing is utilized to improve privacy. However, this involves an increase in the average path length and thus an increase in energy consumption. The privacy loss is measured using information theory concepts; indeed, it is calculated as the difference between the uncertainties on the target location before and after the attack. To evaluate both privacy loss and average energy consumption the behavior of the routing protocol is modeled through a Markov chain in which states represent the nodes traversed by a packet in its way to the sink. The analytical framework can be used by designers to evaluate the most appropriate setting of the random routing parameters depending on the privacy and/or energy efficiency requirements.