Sufian Yousef

A new authentication protocol for UMTS mobile networks

This paper analyzes the authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocol for universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) mobile networks, where a new protocol is proposed. In our proposed protocol, the mobile station is responsible for generating of authentication token (AUTN) and random number (RAND). The home location register is responsible for comparison of response and expected response to take a decision. Therefore, the bottleneck at authentication center is avoided by reducing the number of messages between mobile and authentication center. The authentication time delay, call setup time, and signalling traffic are minimized in the proposed protocol. A fluid mobility model is used to investigate the performance of signalling traffic and load transaction messages between mobile database, such as home location register (HLR) and visitor location register (VLR) for both the current protocol and the proposed protocol. The simulation results show that the authentication delay and current load transaction messages between entities and bandwidth are minimized as compared to current protocol. Therefore, the performance and the authentication delay time have been improved significantly.

A flexible weighted clustering algorithm based on battery power for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) consist of a number of wireless hosts that communicate with each other through multi-hop wireless links in the absence of fixed infrastructure. The previous research on mobile ad-hoc network suggested the use of clustering algorithm because clustering makes it possible to guarantee basic levels of system performance, such as throughput and delay, in the presence of both mobility and a large number of mobile terminals. In this paper, we propose that the Flexible Weighted Clustering Algorithm based on Battery Power (FWCABP), leads to a high degree of stability in the network, minimizing the number of clusters, and minimizing the overhead for the clustering formation and maintenance by keeping a node with weak battery power from being elected as a cluster-head. Simulation experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in terms of the number of clusters formed, reaffiliation frequency, and number of cluster-head change. Results show that our algorithm performs better than existing ones and is also tunable to different kinds of network conditions.

Analytical model for authentication transmission overhead between entities in mobile networks

This paper analyses the authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocol for UMTS mobile networks. In this research the current authentication protocol has been enhanced by reducing the network traffic, signalling message between entities. Consequently the bottleneck at authentication centre is avoided. This is achieved by reducing the number of messages between mobile and authentication centre, then reducing the authentication times, and setup time as well as improving authentication efficiency as shown in analytical analysis and simulation results. In this paper dynamic length (L) for an array for authentication vector (AV) has been proposed. This requires designing a new technique to predict the numbers of records in AV in each authentication data request depending on the arrival rate of authentication events and residence time of the mobile station (MS) in VLR/SGSN. The analytical and simulation study have been carried out to explore the impact of dynamic length for authentication vector on the signalling traffic in mobile network. To validate the simulation results in this research work, the results have been compared with the analytical results and fill match has been achieved.

A New Hybrid Approach of Symmetric/Asymmetric Authentication Protocol for Future Mobile Networks

Most of current authentication schemes for mobile systems have some weaknesses; such as leakage of UE identities and high update overhead of temporary identities. This paper proposes a secure authentication mechanism for mobile communication systems that satisfies the security requirements of the third generation mobile systems. In this proposed protocol, the number of messages between authentication entities of the network is reduced to four messages instead of five in initial authentication procedure. The subsequent authentication procedure only contains two message exchanges. Therefore, the bottleneck at authentication center is avoided by reducing the number of messages between mobile and authentication center. The authentication time delay, call setup time and signaling traffic are minimized. Also, this proposed protocol is designed to be secure against network attacks, such as replay attacks and Guessing attacks and others attacks. Consequently, this approach is secure and practical as it can satisfy the security requirements of the third generation mobile communication systems based on hybrid asymmetric and symmetric cryptosystem, and can save up to 20% of the authentication traffic delay time.

Mobility prediction in mobile ad hoc networks using a lightweight genetic algorithm

A mobile ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile nodes creating a network without using any existing infrastructure. Much research has been carried out to find out an optimal routing protocol for the successful transmission of data in this network. The main hindrance is the mobility of the network. If the mobility pattern of the network can be predicted, it will help in improving the QoS of the network. This paper discusses a novel approach to mobility prediction using movement history and existing concepts of genetic algorithms, to improve the MANET routing algorithms. The proposed lightweight genetic algorithm performs outlier removal on the basis of heuristics and parent selection using the weighted roulette wheel algorithm. After performing the genetic operations a node to node adjacency matrix is obtained from which the predicted direction of each node is calculated using force directed graphs and vector calculations. The technique proposes a new approach to mobility prediction which does not depend on probabilistic methods and which is completely based on genetic algorithms.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Special Education System in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Case Study

The focus of this paper is to study the current information and communication technology (ICT) in special education system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and reveal its issues. This research was conducted by the ministry of education (MOE), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and University of Hail. A qualitative approach was used to reveal the issues of information and communication technology and the special education system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research was carried out by direct observations of a focus group, conducted during one-to-one sessions. The multiple case-study approach was adopted to increase the reliability of data, with the help of a team of researchers and tutors to reduce bias. In this study we have randomly selected 4 public secondary schools for boys having special education classes in Hail region in the KSA. In this study 50 special students 11 to 15 years old, 10 special educators and 4 special education administrators participated. Study revealed that special students (focused group) are facing huge amount of problems during their study and the ICT is not being used in full extent to help them to get education in order to live independently in future life.

Self-configurable zone routing protocol attributes

The Attempts of developing adapted and scalable wireless ad-hoc routing protocols has increased by research and development individuals and institutions in the last few years due to the high availability of low cost wireless devices. This has led to developing many routing protocols which has been mainly categorized into Proactive and Reactive ad-hoc routing protocols. The ability of most of the proposed protocols to adapt in different conditions is one of the researchers and developers biggest problems, in many performance comparisons; if a protocol could outperform other protocols in one performance comparison, it may fail in another comparison with the same routing protocols, but in different network parameters. Such parameters are the core of protocolpsilas adaptability, yet they reflect the requirements for a protocol to work properly in daily use manner. Based on above, Zone Routing Protocol has been configured using OPNET simulator to dynamically set its own attributes in order to adapt in different environments and according to the networkpsilas parameters such as traffic load, mobility model, power constraints, network intensity and / or any other effective parameter.

Eliciting Usability from Blind User Mental Model for Touch Screen Devices

A novel mental model of born blind users for touch screen devices to aid software developers in designing and building better usability applications for blind users is presented. The work of Kurniawan was the basis to examine the mental model of blind users. A user case study was carried out to assess the subjective mental model of users in regards to application of usability. This revealed that two stages: listening and interaction are used to facilitate the development of the Kurniawan mental model. This paper also suggests twelve usability features that can be added to facilitate the design phase of the system.

Analyses Authentication and KeyAgreement (AKA) Protocol for UMTS Mobile Networks

This paper analyses the authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocol for UMTS mobile networks, where a new authentication protocol which is able to reduce the network traffic and signaling message between entities, and consequently the bottleneck at authentication centre is avoided, this is achieved by reducing the number of messages between mobile and authentication centre, and then reducing the authentication times and setup time as well as improving authentication efficiency as shown in numerical analysis and simulation results. In this paper we propose dynamic length (L) for an array for authentication vector (AV). This required designing new technique to predict the numbers of records in AV in each authentication data request depending on the to arrival rate of authentication events and residence time of MS in VLR/SGSN. The proposed AKA with dynamic L for AV is compared with the current AKA with fixed length for AV.

TCP/IP over ATM challenges in enterprise network integration

For ATM networks, VBR, ABR and UBR are effective solutions to accommodate TCP/IP based LAN traffic. To obtain a high quality networking provision for TCP traffic it is important to select either ATM guaranteed or best effort service parameter values to clarify the interaction between the TCP flow control mechanism and the usage parameter control (UPC) function of the ATM switch. Previous studies have addressed the ABR issue and assumed a network context where the ABR service provides TCP/IP connections with zero cell loss connections. This can be considered feasible with explicit rate (ER) ABR control schemes even with reasonable sizing of the switch buffers. The interaction between TCP and ABR control incurs an important challenge. When ACR is low, the queue between TCP and ATM may become as large as the window and the delay may trigger a retransmission thus degrading the end-to-end performance and wasting the bandwidth. Moreover, the prioritised VBR traffic can also degrade the throughput of the ABR traffic. Bursty periodic and self-similar type traffic sources may be problematic for different ABR algorithms. Also, the hardware and software design is still a source of poor performance. The main challenges still to be overcome before the full application/services integration of the network becomes a reality are identified and some solutions are proposed. A simulation study is performed regarding the end-to-end delay for voice and video on IP and ATM networks.