Evaluation of EAP Re-authentication Protocol

When a mobile host is carrying out an initial network attachment procedure in a wireless or cellular system, a large part of a network access latency is due to authentication, authorization and generation of a cryptographic keying material for the subsequent protection of a wireless link. Considerable latency is acceptable as a one-time situation. In scenarios where mobile devices need to re-authenticate, like during handoffs, re-authentication latency may turn out unacceptable in many services. In the paper we are evaluating improvements to Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) introduced with the EAP Re-authentication Protocol (ERP), designed for use in the in the Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) system. The main conclusion is that the new protocol features, specifically the protocol extensions and the new key management framework indeed reduce signalling overhead, offload the server and improve security on the wireless link. They are collectively evaluated in the paper through numerical simulation and software-based emulation.