New authentication mechanism for vertical horizontal Handovers in WLAN and 3G network

This paper proposes a new authentication mechanism for vertical handover between WLAN and 3G network having different extended service set identifiers (ESSIDs), respectively. Firstly, functions of main components in the proposed mechanism are defined newly. Secondly, operation procedures of the proposed mechanism are described for two configuration cases, respectively. According to the proposed mechanism, an inter-access point protocol (IAPP) message can be transmitted between two heterogeneous access networks. Thus, authorization, authentication, accounting (AAA) processes are only performed at an early stage of connecting the MN to the Internet. Therefore, the MN can change its heterogeneous access networks having different ESSIDs without re-authentication, which can reduce the handover latency of the MN. In addition, the location of the MN can, at any time, be managed by using a single agent server regardless of the MN's current access network, which can make the management of the MN's location easy. Accordingly, the proposed mechanism can provide the ongoing session for service continuity of the MN between two heterogeneous access networks.