Expandable Mix-Zones as a Deception Technique for Providing Location Privacy on Internet-of- Battlefield Things (IoBT) Deployments

Abstract

Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) is one of the latest technological advancements in combat-aid services, designed to enhance the battlefield operations of elite teams, such as seals and special operation units. Based on the general concept of the Internet of Things, IoBT establishes a set of devices connected via a communication channel that can interact with each other and share data easily over the battlefield area. In contexts characterized by a high level of difficulties in operation, location information of soldiers should be kept at accuracies that are the highest. This need forms the basis for location privacy, where protection of the positional information of soldiers is ‘deception’, and on which this academic paper is based. Within the ambit of deception strategies for IoT, this article delves into the nuanced intricacies of one particularly promising approach, ‘mix-zones’, which we previously proposed by us for IoBT environments. These zones facilitate the amalgamation and anonymization of multiple user locations within expansible spatial boundaries, thereby offering a robust mechanism for preserving location privacy amidst dynamic battlefield environments. This article is the extension of our previously published explanation work “Expandable Mix-Zones for the IoBT”. For this version, we extend the proposed scheme by including a Random Walk model, hence strengthening the theoretical basis with empirical analysis. More specifically, in this work, we try to estimate the approximate precision of the position information inside and outside mix-zone boundaries. By incorporating the Random Walk model, we try to explain the dynamic interaction between location privacy protection and the inherent uncertainty of the battlefield. The simulations are done in the Python environment, and the associated graphics for each are provided. This approach allows one not only to ensure reproducibility but also to enhance readers’ involvement with the provision of full-scale visual exploration of comparative studies. Concretely, this work investigates the efficacy of the mix-zone concept in real-world scenarios to derive practical insights that are essential for creating robust and resilient IoBT infrastructures.

Keywords

• IoBT
• IoT
• cyber-physical systems
• location privacy
• security
• GDPR