Topic: Distributed data storage over the mobile ad hoc networks (e.g., smartphones)

Abstract: Data protection relies on encryption and storage on individual devices cannot meet the military’s need in a hostile environment. Suppose our data storage devices such as smartphones of the warfighters are lost, damaged, or compromised. It is no surprise all stored data in these devices will be accordingly lost and is unable to retrieve them back. In this research, our effort is to develop Secure, Resilient, and Faulty-tolerant Distributed Storage (SRFDS) over the ad hoc network. Instead of storing the entire data files into a single device, SRFDS divides the original data into fragments and secretly stored them on distributed devices with certain redundancy. The original data can be fully recovered by a user, using any devices. More importantly, our coding and encryption algorithms allow a user to retrieve its data even if a part of storage devices are failed for any reasons (e.g., compromised). Meanwhile, the adversary knows nothing about the data from the compromised nodes.