Transparent End-User Authentication Across Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

With the increasing number of mobile and wireless networks that are deployed, the handovers between these systems take place more often. In order to provide end-users with uninterrupted access to services, support for fast handover is essential. One of the prerequisites of a fast-handover is transparent end-user authentication. In this paper we address end-user authentication at network level. We focus on providing transparent end-user authentication across UMTS and WLAN network technologies. The end-user should be unaware of the underlying network technologies when it comes to authentication. We describe two solutions. For the first solution, authentication is based on the authentication mechanism of the UMTS network. This authentication relies on the shared secret between the UMTS SIM (USIM) card and the end-user’s home network. The authentication in the second case is based on multiple authentication mechanisms; it overcomes the issue of authentication differences in UTMS and WLAN networks.