A Secure and Efficient Blockchain-based Key Management Scheme for LoRaWAN

Abstract

Currently, The Internet of Things (IoT), as an essential infrastructure and new technology, has been applied in a wide range of fields. The fact that many devices in IoT are battery-operated makes the energy-saving network protocols necessary. Therefore, the Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is getting popular for its long range and low power consumption. To facilitate LoRaWAN key management, this study proposes a new secure architecture that can enhance the availability and security based on the permissioned blockchain and a new Join Request that shortens the network access time and shares the pressure of JS(Join Server). In addition, this study also puts up with a new approach to update the root key, solving the problem that the root key remains unchanged through the device's life. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed architecture, we put forward a workable prototype using open-source tools. Moreover, Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) is used to verify the security, and the performance analysis shows the superiority of our scheme in delay and execution time. All results demonstrate that our scheme is lightweight, efficient and secure.