Nafiseh Masaeli - Department of Computer Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Hamid Haj Seyyed Javadi - Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Hossein Erfani - Department of Computer Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract- Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are made up of thousands of small sensor nodes that are capable of detecting, calculating, and transferring data via networks. Although there are certain resource limits, wireless transmission is still an effective way to transport information. The secure transfer of data is critical in a WSN. Key management techniques have been established for the purposes of security. Key pre-distribution is one of the key management methods used to assign keys to the devices before deploying them in the wireless sensor networks. The challenges of these schemes include memory consumption due to limited device resources, scalability, connectivity, and resilience against node capture attacks. Combinatorial designs with neutrality characteristics, which are based on mathematical structure and impose low computational overhead and communication overhead, are used in key pre-distribution and information security of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, some key pre-distribution methods based on the combinatorial designs are reviewed. Finally, the comparison of performance parameters is illustrated in tables. Suggestions to improve future research are considered as well.

combinatorial designs, key management, Key pre-distribution, security, Wireless Sensor Networks