Adaptive security-aware scheduling using multi-agent system

Internet protocol security (IPsec) provides real-time IP packets with confidentiality security service, making them robust against snooping security threats. Conventionally, the security level provided by such protocol cannot be modified according to the status of the network. In this paper, we propose a security-aware scheduling algorithm for a heterogeneous packet switched network. It provides real-time packet flows with guaranteed quality of service (QoS) while adaptively controls the packet´s confidentiality security service level. The proposed scheme is modeled using the object-oriented multi-agent methodology. By applying a buffer estimation technique at the network´s end nodes, the algorithm provides a real-time network congestion control hence satisfying the network performance metrics. In order to minimize the overhead of network association performed by the IPsec, the algorithm overloads the priority code point fields of the IEEE 802.1Q tagged frame format. This approach helps meet both QoS and security requirements for real-time data flows.