Managing establishment and removal of security associations in a wireless mesh network

A method for managing a security association between a node and at least one particular neighbor node in a wireless network, wherein the node comprises:

• a neighbor node table configured to store an entry for at least one neighbor node comprising attributes associated with the neighbor node;
• a security module configured to store security association information associated with each neighbor node, and a routing module communicatively coupled to the security module, the method comprising:
• determining, at the routing module based on particular attributes associated with each neighbor node in the neighbor node table, at least one of the particular neighbor nodes from the neighbor node table that the node will attempt to establish a security association with, wherein the particular attributes comprise:
• Link Quality Measurements (LQMs) which account for the quality of a wireless link with the particular neighbor node, routing metrics which account for metrics along a route to the particular neighbor node, mobility domain information comprising a mobility domain value advertised by the particular neighbor node, mobility information about the particular neighbor node, and security association state information for the particular node;
• selecting, at the routing module, at least one of the particular neighbor nodes the node will attempt to establish the security association with;
• and
• sending a first message from the routing module to the security module to trigger the security module to attempt to establish a particular security association with the particular neighbor node that is selected.

A system, comprising:

• a particular neighbor node;
• and
• a node configured to manage a security association with the particular neighbor node, wherein the node comprises:
• a neighbor node table configured to store an entry for at least the particular neighbor node comprising attributes associated with the particular neighbor node, wherein the attributes comprise:
• Link Quality Measurements (LQMs) which account for the quality of a wireless link with the particular neighbor node, routing metrics which account for metrics along a route to the particular neighbor node, mobility domain information comprising a mobility domain value advertised by the particular neighbor node, mobility information about the particular neighbor node, and security association state information for the particular node;
• a security module configured to store security association information associated with each neighbor node, and
• a routing module communicatively coupled to the security module, wherein the routing module is configured to:
• determine, based on particular attributes associated with each neighbor node in a neighbor node table, at least one of the particular neighbor nodes from the neighbor node table that the node will attempt to establish a security association with;
• select at least one of the particular neighbor nodes the node will attempt to establish the security association with;
• and send a first message to the security module to trigger the security module to attempt to establish a particular security association with the particular neighbor node that is selected.