Robust location distinction using temporal link signatures

The ability of a receiver to determine when a transmitter has changed location is important for energy conservation in wireless sensor networks, for physical security of radio-tagged objects, and for wireless network security in detection of replication attacks. In this paper, we propose using a measured temporal link signature to uniquely identify the link between a transmitter and a receiver. When the transmitter changes location, or if an attacker at a different location assumes the identity of the transmitter, the proposed link distinction algorithm reliably detects the change in the physical channel. This detection can be performed at a single receiver or collaboratively by multiple receivers. We record over 9,000 link signatures at different locations and over time to demonstrate that our method significantly increases the detection rate and reduces the false alarm rate, in comparison to existing methods.