Authenticated Ad Hoc Routing at the Link Layer for Mobile Systems

We have built an experimental link-level authenticated ad hoc routing protocol and integrated it with the PSU version of Mobile-IP. The routing protocol is intended to address survivability and link security issues. In our modiied version of Mobile-IP, we authenticate ICMP router discovery packets, which are sent by both Mobile-IP agents and mobile nodes. The router discovery packets allow systems to exchange authenticated MAC and IP addresses. Topology problems caused by tying IP subnet schemes to routing on radio links are solved. The security problems associated with ARP spooong are also reduced. This link-level protocol might be integrated with Mobile-IP on links where increased security is needed, and is complementary to IP Security (IPSEC) mechanisms. It is not intended to function as a higher-level (mobile node as router) ad hoc routing protocol, but might be integrated with such a protocol.