A quantitative study of authentication and QoS in wireless IP networks

With the increasing demand for secure and high-quality communications in public access wireless IP networks, it is very important to have an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the security and quality of service (QoS). In wireless networks, authentication can provide secure communications by preventing unauthorized usage and negotiating the credentials for data transmission. Nevertheless, it induces heavy overhead to data transmission, further deteriorating overall system performance. Thus, we analyze the impact of authentication on the security and QoS quantitatively in this paper. First, we introduce a system model based on a challenge/response authentication, which is widely used in many mobile environments. Then, a concept of security level is proposed to describe the protection of communications according to the nature of security, i.e., information secrecy, data integrity, and resource availability. By taking traffic and mobility patterns into account, our approach establishes a direct and quantitative connection between the security and QoS through the authentication. Finally, numerical results are provided to demonstrate the impact of security levels, mobility and traffic patterns on overall system performance in terms of authentication delay and call dropping probability.