Secure 3G user authentication in ad-hoc serving networks

The convergence of cellular and IP technologies has pushed the integration of 3G and WLAN networks to the forefront. With 3G networks\u27 failure to deliver feasible bandwidth to the customer and the emerging popularity, ease of use and high throughput of 802.11 WLANs, integrating secure access to 3G services from WLANs has become a primary focus. 3G user authentication initiated from WLANs has been defined by an enhancement to the extensible authentication protocol, EAP, used to transport user authentication requests over WLANs. The EAP-AKA protocol executes the 3G USIM user challenge and response authentication process over the IP backbone for WLAN serving networks. To improve the degree of control of 3G subscribers, spatial control has been proposed for 3G-WLAN user authentication. Successful execution of 3G security algorithms can be limited to a specified area by encrypting a user\u27s authentication challenge with spatial data defining his/her visited WLAN. With 3G networks\u27 limited capacity to determine a user\u27s location to the granularity of a small WLAN area and restricted access to users\u27 location due to privacy, 3G operators must rely on spatial data sent from visited WLANs to implement control for authentication. The risks of implementing EAP-AKA spatial control by 3G operators with no prior relationship or trust for serving WLAN networks are presented in this paper. An ad-hoc architecture is proposed for serving networks in 3G-WLAN integration and the advantages of this architecture that facilitate secure 3G user authentication are identified. Algorithms are proposed to define robust trust relationships between the parties in 3G-WLAN networks. The security of 3G user authentication is further protected by new mechanisms defined that are based on the quality of trust established between parties

Secure interoperation of wireless technologies

Tremendous emphasis has been placed on wireless technologies recently and it is expected that mobile communications will become an even bigger key driver for growth and innovation in the near future. The purpose of this paper is to study the securing, development, integration and implementation of an always on, always available, and accessible from anywhere secure wireless communication environment. Our analysis of the different wireless technologies reveals that a number of obstacles have to be managed before truly transparent wireless public data consumer offering is available. Our concern revolves around the technical development and implementation efforts of integrated wireless technologies enveloped with management processes of change and evolution. Wireless technologies have influenced our daily lives and will undoubtedly continue to play a significant role in the future. This dissertation focuses on the interoperation of wireless technologies, exploring, evaluating and presenting representations of secure, fully integrated wireless environments. The purpose is to find a cost effective, open, viable, sustainable consumer orientated high data speed offering which not only adheres to basic security requirements but surpasses it. By bringing the network to the subscriber we generate an “always-on” and “always-available” solution for data requirements fulfilling an ever increasing human demand for access to resources anywhere, anytime. A background literature of various wireless technologies, techniques and value added services is provided. An approach for the securing of critical content over wireless links in chapter seven provides a basis for access by position concepts presented in chapter eight. This secure approach to location-aware mobile access control is an essential security enhancement in the integration and interoperation models illustrated in chapter nine. These models, appropriately named SWARM 1 and SWARM 2 (System for Wireless and Roaming Mobility), illustrate different approaches to achieving a secure, fully coherent, consumer orientated, wireless data communications environment.Dissertation (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2003.Computer Scienceunrestricte

Femtocell deployment; next generation in cellular systems

The final Bachelor’s Thesis that is shown below has such a final purpose of giving an overview of the inclusion of the so-called Femtocells (or Home Node B) in the current cellular systems. The main objective is to give a clear but simple idea about the concepts of Femtocells, as well as to explain the benefits and disadvantages of the mass uses of these services both for consumers and associated companies with this phenomenon. In this text it is also possible to find a brief review of wireless technologies throughout the history of telecommunications, as well as an introduction to the more current wireless technologies, with a special interest in the concept of cellular systems. In the last chapter a simple mathematical explanation of the key issue of interference between Femtocells and macrocellular networks is presented, with a brief argument about possible solutions

Will SDN be part of 5G?

For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already, the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul, backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment, business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities, softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

Role of Wireless technology in mobile augmented reality system (MARS)

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Context awareness and related challenges: A comprehensive evaluation study for a context-based RAT selection scheme towards 5G networks

Ο αποτελεσματικός σχεδιασμός των δικτύων είναι απαραίτητος για να αντιμετωπιστεί ο αυξανόμενος αριθμός των συνδρομητών κινητού διαδικτύου και των απαιτητικών υπηρεσιών δεδομένων, που ανταγωνίζονται για περιορισμένους ασύρματους πόρους. Επιπλέον, οι βασικές προκλήσεις για τα συνεχώς αναπτυσσόμενα δίκτυα LTE είναι η αύξηση των δυνατοτήτων των υφιστάμενων μηχανισμών, η μείωση της υπερβολικής σηματοδότησης (signaling) και η αξιοποίηση ενός αποτελεσματικού μηχανισμού επιλογής τεχνολογίας ασύρματης πρόσβασης (RAT). Υπάρχουν ποικίλες προτάσεις στην βιβλιογραφία σχετικά με αυτές τις προκλήσεις, μερικές από τις οποίες παρουσιάζονται εδώ. Ο σκοπός της εργασίας αυτής είναι να ερευνήσει τις τρέχουσες εξελίξεις στα δίκτυα LTE σχετικά με την ενσωμάτωση EPC και WiFi και την επίγνωση πλαισίου (context awareness) στην διαχείριση κινητικότητας, και να προτείνει τον αλγόριθμο COmpAsS, έναν μηχανισμό που χρησιμοποιεί ασαφή λογική (fuzzy logic) για να επιλέξει την πιο κατάλληλη τεχνολογία ασύρματης πρόσβασης για τα κινητά. Επιπλέον, έχουμε ποσοτικοποιήσει το κόστος σηματοδότησης του προτεινόμενου μηχανισμού σε σύνδεση με τις σημερινές προδιαγραφές του 3GPP και εκτελέσαμε μια ολοκληρωμένη ανάλυση. Τέλος, αξιολογήσαμε τον αλγόριθμο μέσω εκτεταμένων προσομοιώσεων σε ένα πολύπλοκο και ρεαλιστικό σενάριο χρήσης 5G, που απεικονίζονται τα σαφή πλεονεκτήματα της προσέγγισής μας όσον αφορά τη συχνότητα μεταπομπών (handover) και τις μετρήσεις βασικών QoS τιμών, όπως ρυθμός μετάδοσης και καθυστέρηση.Effective network planning is essential to cope with the increasing number of mobile internet subscribers and bandwidth-intensive services competing for limited wireless resources. Additionally, key challenges for the constantly growing LTE networks is increasing capabilities of current mechanisms, reduction of signaling overhead and the utilization of an effective Radio Access Technology (RAT) selection scheme. There have been various proposals in literature regarding these challenges, some of which are discussed here. The purpose of this work is to research the current advances in LTE networks regarding EPC - WiFi integration and context awareness in mobility management, and propose the COmpAsS algorithm, a mechanism using fuzzy logic to select the most suitable Radio Access Technology. Furthermore, we quantify the signaling overhead of the proposed mechanism by linking it to the current 3GPP specifications and performing a comprehensive analysis. Finally, we evaluate the novel scheme via extensive simulations in a complex and realistic 5G use case, illustrating the clear advantages of our approach in terms of handover frequency and key QoS metrics, i.e. the user-experienced throughput and delay

Design and analysis of LTE-WLAN wireless router with QOS preservation

Future wireless networks are envisioned to embrace a higher level of heterogeneity whereby different wireless technologies such as Long Term Evolution UMTS (LTE), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), WCDMA/HSPA, WiMAX, etc, not only will coexist but will also cooperate more closely. This is motivated by the fact that several complementary characteristics exist between these technologies. For example, one technology can be used as access technology while the other can be used for backhaul. To interconnect two or more wireless technologies, the usage of routing device is inevitable. In order to preserve the Quality of Service (QoS) across these technologies which come with different QoS definitions, a more comprehensive approach is required to preserve QoS across two diverse wireless technologies i.e. Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function (EDCA) for WLAN and Uplink/Downlink packet scheduling for LTE. WLAN is reasonably priced, easy to deploy and has been enjoying a wide market acceptance especially in the indoor. The LTE is expected to be the dominant 4G cellular technology. However it will take some time before LTE can attain the same level of adoption as what WLAN has achieved especially in the consumer market. The main objective of this research project is to design an access router that enables the interworking between WLAN and LTE with QoS preservation. First, the performance of both WLAN and LTE radio interfaces are investigated independently in terms of the data rates, user/system throughput, effect of multiple access and spectral efficiency. Next, different approaches and schemes which facilitate QoS preservation between WLAN and LTE over the router are investigated and evaluated in terms of different performance metrics (voice Mean Opinion Score, video delay, video traffic received, video jitter, video packet loss rate). The design and analysis of the performance are carried out through simulation as the only feasible approach to accomplish this work. OPNET Modeler is used to model the LTE-WLAN router as well as to perform the analysis. The results of this research verify the feasibility of the proposed router architecture and the interworking paradigm. The elegance of the proposed router implementation is that it does not require massive change in the existing wireless systems, LTE and WLAN to preserve the QoS. The results of the performance analysis show that it is crucial to have a QoS preservation mechanism in the router IP layer at any potential congestion point in the wireless network, to ensure that delay-sensitive and loss-sensitive applications, such as real-time video and voice, pass through unimpeded, relative to the loss-tolerant and delay-tolerant data applications. The comparison of the designed IP QoS preservation scheme namely, Priority Queuing without Block Acknowledgement (PQ noBA) shows that it can support 50% more multimedia application across the router than the other scheme

Performance of Wi-Fi coordination schemes for VolP in the presence of FTP data.

Evolved 3GPP cellular core networks have made co-existence of heterogeneous Wireless Access networks (HetNets) possible. The evolved core network along with the development of multimode end user devices have led to the realisation of converged Access Networks. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are assuming a prominent role in the telecommunications ecosystem due to their cost effectiveness, ease of deployment and operation in the free spectrum. Although WLANs are only data centric, there will be greater demand for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) over WLANs as multimode smart-phones become accessible and operators integrate WLANs into their business models. Therefore, it is imperative that WLAN’s ability to support VoIP services is thoroughly understood. Currently, the design of call admission control mechanisms for WLANs that support heterogeneous (data and voice) traffic is a challenging issue. The challenge stems from the difficulty of modelling the behaviour heterogeneous traffic, mixed VoIP and data traffic. IEEE 802.11 WLANs use two types of medium access schemes, the polling based schemes and the contention based schemes. Both types of WLAN coordination schemes have not been thoroughly investigated for their ability to support VoIP over WLANs in the presence of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) data sessions. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a Transport Control Protocol(TCP) based file exchange protocol. TCP was optimised for wired networks and as a result it is unsuitable for wireless network. Furthermore, it was not optimised to co-exist with VoIP and as a result of its burstiness it has severe impact on the jitter, packet-loss and delay of VoIP traffic. The purpose of the work presented in this report is to evaluate the performance of Distributed Coordinated Function (DCF), Point Coordination Function (PCF) and Enhanced Distributed Coordinated Function (EDCF) techniques’ ability to manage Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) over WLAN in the presence of contending heavy FTP data. The key question this work seeks to answer is, are the Medium Access Control (MAC) coordination techniques in their present form capable of carrying VoIP data in the presence of other data. In other words, how realistic is the deployment of VoIP services with FTP services in the same network, using the current coordination schemes for WLAN? Can these coordination schemes be improved by using current MAC enhancements such as fragmentation and increasing the Access Point buffer? The study is carried out for IEEE 802.11g as this is still the most widely deployed standard. The performance is evaluated by setting up a network of stations that generate both voice and FTP traffic in OPNET. The two network configurations are 30-Voice stations and 30-FTP stations; 15-Voice stations and 45-FTP stations. Moreover, two codecs G.711 and G.723 are compared to assess the effect of codec selection on performance

Femtocell deployment; next generation in cellular systems

The final Bachelor’s Thesis that is shown below has such a final purpose of giving an overview of the inclusion of the so-called Femtocells (or Home Node B) in the current cellular systems. The main objective is to give a clear but simple idea about the concepts of Femtocells, as well as to explain the benefits and disadvantages of the mass uses of these services both for consumers and associated companies with this phenomenon. In this text it is also possible to find a brief review of wireless technologies throughout the history of telecommunications, as well as an introduction to the more current wireless technologies, with a special interest in the concept of cellular systems. In the last chapter a simple mathematical explanation of the key issue of interference between Femtocells and macrocellular networks is presented, with a brief argument about possible solutions