Patent ID: 7793103

Claim:
A method for establishing shared secret keys between mobile nodes communicating within an ad hoc multihop network, the method comprising: joining a mobile node to the ad hoc multihop network by authenticating the mobile node to the authentication server through a neighbor node; securely coupling the mobile node to the neighbor node by executing a key agreement protocol at the mobile node and the authentication server to generate a first shared secret key, and then distributing the first shared secret key, from the authentication server to the neighbor node, for use in secure communications between the mobile node and the neighbor node; and establishing secure communications between the mobile node and at least one other neighbor node securely coupled to the neighbor node by: authenticating the mobile node to the at least one other neighbor node through the neighbor node, and securely coupling the mobile node to the at least one other neighbor node by executing a key agreement protocol at the mobile node and the neighbor node to generate a second shared secret key, and then distributing the second shared secret key from the neighbor node to the at least one other neighbor node for use in secure communications.