The performance analysis of two digital signature schemes based on secure charging protocol

Wired equivalent security is difficult to provide in ad-hoc networks due to high dynamics, wireless link vulnerability, and requirement of decentralization. In order to keep up with new networking needs, the secure charging protocol (SCP) aiming at answering the complex authentication, authorization, accounting and charging (AAAC) problem was proposed. This protocol employs digital signatures as cryptographic tool to establish authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation of charging information. The question is that devices in ad-hoc networks always have constrained capabilities concerning CPU power, battery power, and transmission bandwidth whereas most digital signature algorithms are resource-consuming. So the optimal choice to a efficient digital signature algorithm is very important. Using a computational measure according to SCP definition, we examine the performance of two important digital signature algorithms, ECDSA and RSA, in multihop ad-hoc network environment and find that ECDSA is always the better choice with respect to both data overhead and CPU time.