Extensible authentication (EAP) protocol integrations in the next generation cellular networks

Authentication is an important part of the authentication authorization and accounting (AAA) schemes and the extensible authentication protocol (EAP) is a universally accepted framework for authentication commonly used in wireless networks and point-to-point protocol (PPP) connections. The main focus of this chapter is the technical details to examine how EAP is integrated into the architecture of next generation networks (NGN), such as in worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), which is defined in the IEEE 802.16d and IEEE 802.16e standards and in current wireless protocols, such as IEEE 802.11i. This focus includes an overview of the integration of EAP with IEEE 802.1x, remote authentication dial in user service (RADIUS), DIAMETER, and pair-wise master key version (2PKv2).