Authentication Mechanism for Ad Hoc Wireless Local Area Network

Wireless networks have grown rapidly over the last decade and they have been
deployed in numerous applications due to their advantages over wired networks,
specifically for its mobility and convenience. However, due to its wireless nature,
some security issues in wireless network need to be addressed, such as unauthorized
or rogue wireless devices which are relatively easy to connect to the network because
they do not need any physical access. These issues might prevent further acceptance
and adoption of wireless network technology.
One of the solutions to overcome the wireless network security is the 802.1X
specification. It is a mechanism for port-based network access control, which based
on Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). It is an authentication framework that
can support multiple authentication methods. This research is looking into the
possibility of using EAP as a generic authentication mechanism in ad hoc wireless
local area networks. One promising advantage of using EAP-based authentication
mechanism in a network is its interoperability with other types of networks since EAP
is already a platform for various authentication mechanisms.
This thesis studies and explores the feasibility of using EAP in ad hoc wireless
local area network and then proposes a mechanism to implement EAP in ad hoc
wireless local area network based on EAP multiplexing model. This thesis also
proposes an extension to EAP, a mechanism to select a suitable EAP method out of a
set of EAP methods to be used in EAP authentication process in heterogeneous
mobile devices environment, where the network consists of different types of nodes /
devices with different specifications and capabilities, and each node may support
different type of EAP authentication method.
Toward the end of this thesis, formal specification and verification of the
proposed authentication mechanism are derived and strong final beliefs are obtained.
Furthermore, node architecture that can be used in simulation of EAP authentication
is designed and the EAP method selection mechanism is simulated.