A Geographic Location-based Security Mechanism for Intelligent Vehicular Networks

In Intelligent Vehicular Networks, featured as car-to-car and car-toinfrastructure wireless communication, most applications need important location information or credential information. We address a location-based encryption method that not only ensures messages confidentiality but also authenticates identity and location of communication peers. The authentication of location means that a message can only decrypted by the receiver which is “physically” present inside a decryption region specified by locations, and is moving at a specific speed, acceleration and at a specific time period. A secret key is generated by converting location, time and mobility information (such as speed and acceleration) into a unique number. The determination of the decryption region is addressed in two steps: predicting and updating. The proposed method evaluated by simulations is efficient and secure.