Fast Re-authentication for Efficient and Seamless Handover in 4g Networks

Wireless technologies such as the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the Worldwide Interoperability for Micro wave Access (Wi-MAX), and the Third-Generation (3G) mobile communications system complement each other to support a variety of services suited for the home, urban, and global environments. As roaming users expect a seamless handover (HO) experience when switching from one wireless network to another, fast and secure HO operations must be supported by the networks. To present and analyze two re-authentication protocols for HOs between Wi-MAX and WLANs by subscribers of networks conforming to the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) standards. Re-authentication with 3GPP Home Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting servers takes place whenever a Handover is performed. Interworking 3GPP networks with WLAN and Wi-MAX networks offers the better service coverage, lower cost and also the provision of efficient re-authentication mechanism during a Handover. By providing the fast reauthentication, our proposed protocols achieved an outstanding performance results compared to standard protocols in terms of re-authentication signalling traffic and re-authentication delay.