Diminishing signalling traffic for authentication in mobile communication system. (7th September 2004)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lo, Chi-Chun; Sue, Kuen-Liang
• Is Part Of: International journal of electronic business. Volume 2:Number 3(2004)
• Page Start: 274
• Page End: 282
• Publication Date: 2004-09-07
• Subjects: authentication -- HLR -- VLR -- authentication centre -- mobility management -- overflow control -- mobile communications -- signalling traffic reduction; Electronic commerce -- Periodicals; 658.05467805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-6067

Abstract

In global system for mobile communication, the VLR requests the HLR for assistance in authenticating the visiting user. The authentication centre (AuC) in the home network generates 3-tuples and sends them back to the VLR for subsequent authentications during the user's residence. If these 3-tuples are used up before the MS's leaving, another request is issued by the VLR. The request is expensive, because it needs to access the HLR/AuC. Traditionally, a fixed-K strategy is used. That is, K 3-tuples are sent to the VLR for each request. However, much waste of 3-tuples is observed, especially when an inactive user is considered. Hence, we propose a dynamic-K (DK) strategy to reduce the waste and diminish the signalling traffic for authentication. Simulation results show that the DK strategy can effectively determine the appropriate K value. Not only the waste but also the number of requests is diminished efficiently.