Design and evaluation of a fast authentication scheme for WiFi-based wireless networks

WiFi-based wireless networks are important components in next generation mobile heterogeneous networks, as WiFi devices are widely used in laptops, PDAs and other mobile computing machines. During the movement, mobile clients have to switch their associated access points because the wireless transmission range is limited in a WiFi network. The process of switching access points is called handoff. Handoff management is a key service in mobile networks, because providing seamless roaming in wireless networks is mandatory for supporting realtime applications in a mobile environment, such as VoIP, online games, and eConference. Many solutions have been introduced to reduce MAC layer handoff latency; however, these solutions do not consider secure authentications, which would not be suitable for real scenarios. During the handoff procedure, mobile clients should pass the authentication to prevent security attacks. In this paper, we propose a fast authentication scheme for WiFi networks to reduce authentication latency during the handoff. In the meanwhile, the packet loss ratio is also minimized to support seamless roaming.