Enabling delegation for impromptu collaboration in pervasive computing

One of the most common types of interactions in pervasive computing has been known as impromptu collaboration, which is often characterized as being opportunistic, spontaneous, proximity-based, and transient. Many research efforts have been made to secure this type of communications, addressing issues such as secure device identification, authentication, trust, and access control. However, little focus has been given on the issue of delegation, which could be a key enabler toward secure resource sharing in pervasive computing. In this paper we present a lightweight delegation framework extended from a previous access control solution for impromptu collaboration in pervasive computing. Our solution relies on the use of XML, and is secured by HMAC.