On Authentication Signaling Costs in Hierarchical LTE Networks

As smart phones have become prevalent, demand for mobile service on LTE networks has increased. As more mobile devices use wireless service, more authentication signaling results. Authentication is an important factor in wireless networks when identifying devices. This paper analyzes previous patterns of authentication during external network access. Fast wireless authentication service is proposed with minimal cost of signaling between the authentication server and external network. The rate of authentication in LTE networks is shown using mathematical modeling as well as changing signaling costs for authentication in various environments. The optimized number of authentication data calculations proposed in this paper shows that authentication signaling is cost effective.