An efficient authentication and key agreement protocol for a group of vehicles devices in 5G cellular networks

In recent years, the world of wireless telecommunications is in full progress. Indeed, although the evolution of 4G mobile networks continues, the standardization work of the 5G networks is in full progress. The connected vehicle is part of the services expected from 5G. Indeed, the interconnection between vehicles promises a safer and more enjoyable driving experience. However, as the huge number of vehicle devices are increasing day by day and each vehicle must perform a full authentication procedure to reach to the network, network congestion may occur when a group of vehicles requires simultaneous access, moreover this can have a decisive effect on the promised high rate of 5G. The EPS-AKA authentication mechanism used in 4G networks is too insufficient to handle a large number of mobile devices. In this context, our article aims to define a reliable solution for the authentication of a group of vehicles simultaneous in 5G cellular networks. A reauthentication procedure is also proposed. Analysis results obtained using the SPAN tool has proven that authentication and privacy objectives are met. In addition, elaborate performance evaluations in terms of communication signalling and computational overhead demonstrate that our protocol is more efficient than those existing protocols.