Zero-one laws for connectivity in inhomogeneous random key graphs

We introduce a new random key predistribution scheme for securing heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. Each of the n sensors in the network is classified into r classes according to some probability distribution μ = {μ_1 , . . . , μ_r }. Before deployment, a class-i sensor is assigned K_i cryptographic keys that are selected uniformly at random from a common pool of P keys. Once deployed, a pair of sensors can communicate securely if and only if they have a key in common. We model the communication topology of this network by a newly defined inhomogeneous random key graph. We establish scaling conditions on the parameters P and {K_1 , . . . , K_r } so that this graph i) has no isolated nodes; and ii) is connected, both with high probability. The results are given in the form of zero-one laws with the number of sensors n growing unboundedly large; critical scalings are identified and shown to coincide for both graph properties. Our results are shown to complement and improve those given by Godehardt et al. and Zhao et al. for the same model, therein referred to as the general random intersection graph.