Empirical Analysis of Authentication Process in a Cooperative B3G Network

Under the B3G vision, cellular operators construct a complementary environment - public WLAN to make up for the limited data access service to become cellular/PWLAN operators. In addition, confederating various PWLAN operators including PWLAN operators, Cellular/PWLAN operators and PWLAN roaming brokers under the PWLAN roaming agreements can intensify the PWLAN service coverage. To build a better PWLAN access service, the group formed by heterogeneous PWLAN roaming partners is markedly growing. Authentication process in such a cooperative service plays the foremost role for users and conducts lots of back-and-forth authentication messages transmitted among PWLAN partners. To better understand the nuts and bolts of the authentication operation in a cooperative B3G network, this article aims to analyze the authentication process empirically by some experiment results. We believe such an experience and concept can be referred to integrate the future advanced heterogeneous networks.