Modeling Protocols for Secure Group Communication in Ad Hoc Networks

Since its introduction as a communications medium, wireless technology found broad application on the battlefield. Accompanying dramatic advances in wireless technology and the capabilities associated with small computing devices, the demand for advanced mechanisms to employ wireless technology in the battlefield continues to grow. We propose a model for deriving and reasoning about security protocols designed for battlefield use in ad hoc wireless networks. We contend that our model facilitates reasoning about protocols by integrating the communications and cryptographic aspects of battlefield group communication, and allows automated reasoning about resulting protocols. We illustrate our concept by introducing protocols to support special communication cases associated with the battlefield.