Enhanced inter-access service network handover authentication scheme for IEEE 802.16m network

The 802.16m mobile worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) standard is the amendment to the 802.16e standard. It introduced high mobility features that enable mobile broadband services at vehicular speeds beyond 120 km/h. However, handover latency in mobile WiMAX may affect real-time application sessions such as VoIP at very high vehicle speed. This makes it imperative to develop fast and secure handover schemes for such very high-speed vehicles. One of the main factors that affect handover performance in 802.16m standard is the delay introduced by the authentication procedure when a mobile user moves between base stations (BSs). In this study, a recently proposed intra-access service network (ASN) handover authentication scheme with privacy preservation is extended to a fast symmetrical key inter-ASN handover authentication scheme that avoids the involvement of third party. The proposed scheme solves the pairwise master key backward and forward security problems and provides mutual authentication between the mobile station (MS) and the target BS during inter-ASN handover event. Finally, the proposed scheme provides MS anonymity and reduces the need to a high-quality tamper-proof device in the BS that was required in the previous scheme.