An introduction of a modular framework for securing 5G networks and beyond

Fifth Generation Mobile Network (5G) is a heterogeneous network in nature, made up of multiple systems and supported by different technologies. It will be supported by network services such as device-to-device (D2D) communications. This will enable the new use cases to provide access to other services within the network and from third-party service providers (SPs). End-users with their user equipment (UE) will be able to access services ubiquitously from multiple SPs that might share infrastructure and security management, whereby implementing security from one domain to another will be a challenge. This highlights a need for a new and effective security approach to address the security of such a complex system. This article proposes a network service security (NSS) modular framework for 5G and beyond that consists of different security levels of the network. It reviews the security issues of D2D communications in 5G, and it is used to address security issues that affect the users and SPs in an integrated and heterogeneous network such as the 5G enabled D2D communications network. The conceptual framework consists of a physical layer, network access, service and D2D security levels. Finally, it recommends security mechanisms to address the security issues at each level of the 5G-enabled D2D communications network

On predictive routing of security contexts in an all-IP network

While mobile nodes (MNs) undergo handovers across inter-wireless access networks, their security contexts must be propagated for secure re-establishment of on-going application sessions, such as those in secure mobile internet protocol (IP), authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services. Routing security contexts via an IP network either on-demand or based on MNs' mobility prediction, imposes new challenging requirements of secure cross-handover services and security context management. In this paper, we present a context router (CXR) that manages security contexts in an all-IP network, providing seamless and secure handover services for the mobile users that carry multimedia-access devices. A CXR is responsible for (1) monitoring of MNs' cross-handover, (2) analysis of MNs' movement patterns, and (3) routing of security contexts ahead of MNs' arrival at relevant access points. The predictive routing reduces the delay in the underlying security association that would otherwise fetch an involved security context from a remote server. The predictive routing of security contexts is performed based on statistical learning of MNs' movement pattern, gauging (dis)similarities between the patterns obtained via distance measurements. The CXR has been evaluated with a prototypical implementation based on an MN mobility model on a grid. Our evaluation results support the predictive routing mechanism's improvement in seamless and secure cross-handover services by a factor of 2.5. Also, the prediction mechanism is shown to outperform the Kalman filter-based method [13] as a Kalman Fiter-based mechanism up to 1.5 and 3.6 times regarding prediction accuracy and computation performance, respectively. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65037/1/135_ftp.pd

Enhancing Capacity and Network Performance of Client-Server Architectures Using Mobile IPv6 Host-Based Network Protocol

A huge number of studies have been done supporting seamless mobility networks and mobile technologies over the years The recent innovations in technology have unveiled another revolution from the static architectural approach to more dynamic and even mobile approaches for client-server networks Due to the special equipments and infrastructure needed to support network mobility management it is difficult to deploy such networks beyond the local network coverage without interruption of communications Therefore MIPv6 as developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF and ancillary technologies were reviewed to provide clear insights on implementing MIPv6 in Client-Server architectures However MIPv6 technology presents weaknesses related to its critical handover latency which appears long for real-time applications such as Video Stream with potential loss of data packets during transmissio

Enhancing Capacity and Network Performance of Client-Server Architectures Using Mobile IPv6 Host-Based Network Protocol

A huge number of studies have been done supporting seamless mobility networks and mobile technologies over the years. The recent innovations in technology have unveiled another revolution from the static architectural approach to more dynamic and even mobile approaches for client-server networks. Due to the special equipments and infrastructure needed to support network mobility management, it is difficult to deploy such networks beyond the local network coverage without interruption of communications. Therefore, MIPv6 as developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ancillary technologies were reviewed to provide clear insights on implementing MIPv6 in Client-Server architectures. However, MIPv6 technology presents weaknesses related to its critical handover latency which appears long for real-time applications such as Video Stream with potential loss of data packets during transmission

Design of a UMTS/GPRS Assisted Mesh Network (UAMN)

Wireless Mesh or multi-hop networks (WMNs) are well known thanks to its simplicity on deployment and the lack of infrastructure. These two advantages come with some drawbacks. WMNs have limitations with the support of Quality of Service (QoS), they do not assure coverage or even connectivity, and security, management and monitoring are not considered key requirements. In order to benefit of mesh networks and use them as an operator graded network, it is necessary to either improve mesh networks to fulfill all these requirements or use an alternative network that offers full availability, connectivity and security to assist the mesh network. Considering the two options, the second is the one selected making use of GPRS/UMTS as an assistant network. The document describes a set of requirements and the design of the functionalities needed to build an operator graded network using the cellular GPRS/UMTS. The aspects covered in the design are: security, quality of service, mobility, self configuration and optimization. The last point, optimization, is not directly involved with mesh networking, but it is an improvement easy to achieve when using a gateway node to access the Internet through a GPRS/UMTS connection. The design of the solution not only considers functionality, but also feasibility employing of the shelve elements. The mesh nodes and gateways are built on top of Linux operating system with the aim to reuse previous results and open source software. The final objective of the project is to build a usable system to be used as a proof of concept.Peer Reviewe

Fast and seamless mobility management in IPV6-based next-generation wireless networks

Introduction -- Access router tunnelling protocol (ARTP) -- Proposed integrated architecture for next generation wireless networks -- Proposed seamless handoff schemes in next generation wireless networks -- Proposed fast mac layer handoff scheme for MIPV6/WLANs

Technology Integration Framework for Fast and Low Cost Handovers—Case Study: WiFi-WiMAX Network

The Next Generation Wireless Networks (NGWNs) are seemed to be heterogeneous networks based on the integration of several wireless technologies. These networks are required to achieve performances equivalent to classic wireless networks by ensuring the continuity of communications and the homogeneity of network management during horizontal and vertical handovers. This task is even more important when management services, like security and quality of service (QoS), are deployed at access technology level. In this paper, we propose a framework for heterogeneous wireless technology integration based on network architecture skeleton and a handover management mechanism. This framework optimizes the layer-2 handover procedure to achieve performances required by sensitive applications while ensuring the minimization of signaling overhead required for operated networks. As an application example, we make use of this framework to propose a heterogeneous network based on WiFi and WiMAX technologies. We present an application example of the framework using the specification of a WiFi-WiMAX network. We propose several performance evaluations based on simulation tests based on this application. The latter confirm the efficiency of handover delay optimization and the minimization of management signaling costs