Authentication of a gateway device in a sensor network

A wireless sensing device to be coupled with a gateway device of a sensor network, wherein the sensor network includes a management server, the wireless sensing device comprising:

• one or more sensors to detect physical events and to provide one or more sensor measurements representative of the physical events;
• a communication interface to receive, from the gateway device, a certificate wherein the certificate was generated by the management server upon a determination that the gateway device and the wireless sensing device are associated and is a digital document including data and a digital signature, wherein the digital signature was generated by the management server based on the data and a private key of the management server, and wherein the data includes a first identifier and a second identifier;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions;
• and
• a processor coupled with the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to process the stored instructions to:
• confirm that the wireless sensing device is authorized to upload data to the gateway device, wherein to confirm includes,
• to check that the second identifier matches a sensing device identifier stored in the wireless sensing device,
• to authenticate the certificate using a public key associated with the private key of the management server;
• and
• in response to the confirmation that the wireless sensing device is authorized to upload data to the gateway device, to upload data to the gateway device data indicative of a plurality of sensor measurements taken over time to be transmitted to the management server, wherein the plurality of sensor measurements are representative of physical events detected at the wireless sensing device.

A method in a gateway device, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a management server, a set of one or more certificates, wherein each one of the set of certificates was generated by the management server upon a determination that the gateway device is associated with a respective one of a set of one or more wireless sensing devices, and wherein each one of the set of certificates is a digital document including data and a digital signature generated by the management server based on the data and a private key of the management server, and wherein the data of each one of the set of certificates includes a first identifier and a second identifier, wherein the first identifier matches a gateway identifier of the gateway device;
• receiving from a first of the set of wireless sensing devices an advertisement message indicating it is available for connecting to a gateway device, wherein the advertisement message includes a first wireless sensing device identifier;
• confirming that the gateway device is authorized to connect to the first wireless sensing device, wherein the confirming includes determining that the first wireless sensing device identifier matches the second identifier included in the data of a first certificate of the set of certificates,
• in response to the confirming that the gateway device is authorized to connect to the first wireless sensing device, transmitting to the first wireless sensing device the first certificate and an identifier of the gateway device for enabling authentication of the gateway device at the wireless sensing device;
• and
• receiving data from the first wireless sensing device, upon confirmation at the first wireless sensing device that the first wireless sensing device is authorized to connect with the gateway device based on the first certificate, wherein the data is indicative of a plurality of sensor measurements taken over time and is to be transmitted to the management server, wherein the plurality of sensor measurements are representative of physical events detected at the wireless sensing device.

A gateway device to be coupled with a wireless sensing device of a sensor network, wherein the sensor network includes a management server, the gateway device comprising:

• a communication interface to receive, from a management server, a set of one or more certificates, wherein each one of the set of certificates was generated by the management server upon a determination that the gateway device is associated with a respective one of a set of one or more wireless sensing devices, and wherein each one of the set of certificates is a digital document including data and a digital signature generated by the management server based on the data and a private key of the management server, and wherein the data of each one of the set of certificates includes a first identifier and a second identifier, wherein the first identifier matches a gateway identifier of the gateway device;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions;
• and
• a processor coupled with the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to process the stored instructions to:
• receive from a first of the set of wireless sensing devices an advertisement message indicating it is available for connecting to a gateway device, wherein the advertisement message includes a first wireless sensing device identifier,
• confirm that the gateway device is authorized to connect to the first wireless sensing device, wherein to confirm includes determining that the first wireless sensing device identifier matches the second identifier included in the data of a first certificate of the set of certificates,
• in response to the confirmation that the gateway device is authorized to connect to the first wireless sensing device, transmit through the communication interface to the first wireless sensing device the first certificate and an identifier of the gateway device for enabling authentication of the gateway device at the wireless sensing device, and
• receive, through the communication interface, data from the first wireless sensing device, upon confirmation at the first wireless sensing device that the first wireless sensing device is authorized to connect with the gateway device based on the first certificate, wherein the data is indicative of a plurality of sensor measurements taken over time and is to be transmitted to the management server, wherein the plurality of sensor measurements are representative of physical events detected at the wireless sensing device.