Network-Layer Assisted Mechanism to Optimize Authentication Delay during Handoff in 802.11 Networks

Access Control Solutions for Next Generation Networks

“…The ITU-T G.114 recommendation (ITU-T Recommendation G.114 (1998)) indicates, for Voice over IP applications, an end-to-end delay of 150 ms as the upper limit and rates 400 ms as a generally unacceptable delay. Similarly, a streaming application has tolerable packet-error rates ranging from 0.1 to 0.00001 with a transfer delay of less than 300 ms. As has been proved in (R. M. Lopez et al (2007)), a full EAP authentication 2 based on a typical EAP method such as EAP-TLS can provoke an unacceptable handoff interruption of about 600 milliseconds (or even in some cases several seconds) for these kind of applications.…”

“…Network layer solutions (Y. Ohba and A. Yegin (2010), R. M. Lopez et al (2007), A. Dutta et al (2008) have the advantage of being capable to work independent of the underlying access technologies and with authenticators located in different networks or domains.…”

“…The handoff process requires the execution of several tasks (N. Nasser et al (2006)) that negatively affect the handoff latency. In particular, the authentication and key distribution processes have been proven to be one of the most critical components since they require considerable time (A. Dutta et al (2008); Badra et al (2007); C. Politis et al (2004); Marin-Lopez et al (2010); R. M. Lopez et al (2007)). The implantation of these processes during the network access control demanded by network operators is destined to ensure that only allowed users can access the network resources in a secure manner.…”

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) Early Authentication Problem Statement

“…Following a successful EAP authentication, a secure association procedure is typically performed between the mobile device and the TAP to derive a new set of link-layer encryption keys from EAP keying material such as the MSK. The handover latency introduced by full EAP authentication has proven to be higher than that which is acceptable for real-time application scenarios [MQ7]; hence, reduction in handover latency due to EAP is a necessary objective for such scenarios. access networks and the Evolved Packet System (EPS).…”

“…In some cases, the central authority may be distant from the mobile device. The delay introduced due to such an authentication and authorization procedure adds to the handover latency and consequently affects ongoing application sessions [MQ7]. The discussion in this document is focused on mitigating delay due to EAP authentication.…”