Improving the internet protocol-based authentication process in a cooperative beyond third-generation network

Under the beyond third-generation (B3G) vision, cellular operators (like Vodafone, T-mobile) construct a complementary environment - public wireless local area network (PWLAN) to compensate for the limited data access service to become cellular/PWLAN operators. In addition, PWLAN service coverage can be improved by bringing together various types of PWLAN operators, including PWLAN operators, cellular/PWLAN operators and PWLAN roaming brokers under PWLAN roaming agreements. To build a better PWLAN access service, the group formed by heterogeneous PWLAN roaming partners is markedly growing. In such a cooperative service, the user authentication process plays a foremost role for users and involves many back-and-forth authentication message transmissions among the PWLAN partners. Some factors causing the authentication delay are hard to be further improved, such as the authentication network condition since the networks are owned by many PWLAN partners and scattered in the Internet. If the Internet protocol (IP) lookup time for the authentication server can be shortened, the efficiency for the IP-based authentication process can be made. In this article, an improved mechanism for reducing the IP lookup latency prior to conveying authentication messages is presented. With theoretical analyses and simulation results, the proposed scheme can improve the authentication process in a cooperative B3G network.