A fast and efficient authentication scheme for WAVE unicast services in vehicular networks

Recently, there have been several potential attacks (e.g., bogus message, eavesdropping, source modification, invasion of privacy, and replays) on Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE). Several solutions have been previously proposed. However, most of them are based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and authentication in broadcast services. The PKI can cause cryptographic overhead and the management difficulties of public key certificates. Also, the broadcast services would incur network congestion. Hence, this paper proposes a fast and efficient authentication scheme for WAVE unicast services to reduce the network congestion and the PKI overhead between vehicles and Road Side Units (RSU). Our scheme is based on a Pairwise Transient Key (PTK) procedure with few extra authentication steps. Performance evaluation of the new scheme has been experimented on a network simulator (NS-2). The experimental results have demonstrated the favorable features of the new scheme.