Optimized handoff and secure roaming model for wireless networks

Over the past decades, we have seen an increasing number of users with the need and desire to be connected and reachable anywhere at any time. As a result, we have seen a growing number of wireless technologies and services providers in order to fulfill users´ needs. Wireless networks enable users to roam seamless in areas that are covered by network providers with which the user does not have any prior arrangements. While users are roaming between different network providers there is a handoff process that takes place, but ensuring the security and efficiency of this process is challenging. Mainly, because during the handoff process, a user has to wait for some time before it can communicate with an Access Point (AP) of the network provider with which it has no preceding arrangement. As a result, during this period of delay, certain applications and services are interrupted. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide desirable Quality of Services (QoS) to users for interactive VoIP, real time gaming and streaming traffic by reducing the handoff delay and packet loss during the roaming process. In this paper, an Enhanced Secure Handoff (ESH) algorithm is designed by integrating Protocol for Carrying Authentication for Network Access (PANA) and fast roaming algorithm in order to optimize inter-domain and inter-technology handoff and provide secured roaming. In ESH algorithm the number of handoff procedures between lots of APs and users can be replaced by only one handoff procedure between the inter-domain and inter-technology. The ESH algorithm first creates and maintains a table of APs based on the signal strength thereafter security associations between users and APs are prepared. Experimental results showed that the proposed model can achieve a significant reduction in handover delays and provide secured roaming when compared with Media-Independent Handover (MIH) and Media-Independent Handover Security (MIHSec) algorithms.