In one embodiment, a network management system associated with a multi-hop wireless network may receive registration information associated with a network node, wherein the registration information comprises cipher text encoded with a public key, and wherein the cipher text comprises a MAC address and one or more of a firmware hash assigned to the network node or a serial number assigned to the network node. The network management system may decode the cipher text with a private key corresponding to the public key. The network management system may record the registration information in a lookup table on a data store of the network management system. The network management system may register the network node associated with the recorded registration information as an unignited network node on the multi-hop wireless network.