FPODG: a flexible and private proximity testing based on 'one degree' grid. (2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jing, Tao; Lin, Ping; Lu, Yanfei; Hu, Chunqiang; Huo, Yan
• Is Part Of: International journal of sensor networks. Volume 20:Number 3(2016)
• Page Start: 199
• Page End: 207
• Publication Date: 2016
• Subjects: LBS -- location-based services -- proximity testing -- location privacy; Sensor networks -- Periodicals; 681.2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-1279

Abstract

In the location-based services (LBSs), private proximity testing is an important service that not only notifies a user when her friends are nearby but preserves all users' exact locations. However, existing schemes cannot protect the location privacy and guarantee the testing efficiency simultaneously. In this paper, we utilize a novel 'one degree' grid system to solve this challenge, which reduces the testing zone and is convenient for users to establish similar grids without leaking their location information. In addition, a flexible and private proximity testing (FPODG) protocol is proposed based on the 'one degree' grid. FPODG includes two sub-protocols: the pre-filtration subprotocol is used to rule out the case that friends' detected regions are greater than vicinity regions, and the private query sub-protocol aims to further detect friends' proximity. Experimental results show that the proposed protocol exhibits an excellent performance on computation and communication costs.