Area surveillance is one of the most typical application scenarios for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In these scenarios, sensor nodes are used to monitor a predefined area -- for example a border or private property -- and to detect and track trespassers. To detect moving objects, nodes can be equipped with a wide range of sensors, passive infrared sensors being arguably the simplest and cheapest among them. By communicating with each other, the sensor nodes track positions and moving directions of these objects and report them to a base station. In a safety critical area, the sensor nodes must report the objects locations and trajectories within a certain amount of time and with high accuracy.

A trespasser can for example intend to manipulate nodes in a way enabling undetected crossing. Taken into account that sensor nodes underly heavy restrictions in terms of power supply, memory capacity and processing power, classical approaches for network security usually cannot be employed. Instead, it is mandatory to design security protocols especially for the use in sensor networks.

The project FleGSens focussed on the security aspects of area surveillance systems, in particular on information security. The goal of the project was the development of a secure area monitoring application based on a wireless sensor network.