End-to-end security and seamless handover solution for real-time communications over 3G networks

Abstract

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) defined by 3GPP is designed to provide robust multimedia applications over diverse access technologies. A promising solution to protect such applications is to use the Secure Internet Protocol (IPSec); however, IPSec has some drawbacks, particularly on the performance and the QoS of real-time applications. On the other hand, seamless vertical handover is one of the challenging issues in wireless networks. Vertical handover requires fast and efficient control over various wireless technologies to realize service continuity and seamless mobility. This paper presents an IPSec-based end-to-end securing solution for real-time services and proposes a secure and fast seamless handover solution preserving the QoS and security when moving between heterogeneous access networks. An analytic model is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed solution in term of end-to-end latency and packet loss. The results show that our solution provides high performance for real-time applications while guaranteeing end-to-end security.