An efficient EAP‐based proxy signature handover authentication scheme for WRANs over TV white space

Abstract

Summary The wireless regional area networks (WRANs) operates in the very high frequency and ultra high frequency television white space bands regulated by the IEEE 802.22 standard. The IEEE 802.22 standard supports Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)‐based authentication scheme. Due to the participation of a server and the information exchanged between a customer primes equipment and the secondary user base station, it takes around 50 ms to complete a complete EAP authentication that cannot be accepted in a handover procedure in WRANs. In this paper, we propose an EAP‐based proxy signature (EPS) handover authentication scheme for WRANs. The customer primes equipment and secondary user base station accomplish a handover authentication without entailing the server by using the proxy signature. Approved by the logic derivation by Burrows, Abadi, and Needham logic and formal verification by Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications, we can conclude that the proposed EPS scheme can obtain mutual authentication and hold the key secrecy with a strong antiattack ability. Additionally, the performance of the EPS scheme in terms of the authentication delay has been investigated by simulation experiments with the results showing that the EPS scheme is much more efficient in terms of low computation delay and less communication resources required than the security scheme regulated in IEEE 802.22 standard.