Pre-Authentication Design for Seamless and Secure Handover in Mobile WiMAX

Abstract

Mobile WiMAX uses EAP-based authentication and key management for link layer security. One of the major challenges concerning the performance of mobile WiMAX is seamless handover. Research shows that a large portion of delay related to handover actually comes from user authentication and network entry and re-entry. In general, total delay associated with the handover process can be divided into three categories: i) link layer handover delay, ii) IP layer handover delay, and iii) security sub-layer handover delay. We propose a pre-authentication design that can provide seamless and safe connection when handover takes place. Our design is based on the least privilege principle; therefore, our approach guarantees backward/forward secrecy. We conduct research using an ns-2 simulation tool to measure the performance of our seamless handover. Our approach is validated using automated validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA).