[Paper Review] Group Handover for Drone-Mounted Base Stations

Yücel Aydın, Güneş Karabulut Kurt+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Dec 16, 2020

UAV Applications and Optimization17 references4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a group handover protocol for drone-mounted base stations (UxNBs) that enables fast, secure authentication and collective handover of multiple user equipments (UEs) from terrestrial base stations to UxNBs. By eliminating per-UE credential sharing and leveraging mutual authentication between terrestrial BS and UxNB, the scheme reduces signaling overhead and accelerates handover completion, enhancing capacity and QoS in high-density scenarios like stadiums.

ABSTRACT

The widespread use of new technologies such as the Internet of things (IoT) and machine type communication(MTC) forces an increase on the number of user equipments(UEs) and MTC devices that are connecting to mobile networks. Inherently, as the number of UEs inside a base station's (BS) coverage area surges, the quality of service (QoS) tends to decline. The use of drone-mounted BS (UxNB) is a solution in places where UEs are densely populated, such as stadiums. UxNB emerges as a promising technology that can be used for capacity injection purposes in the future due to its fast deployment. However, this emerging technology introduces a new security issue. Mutual authentication, creating a communication channel between terrestrial BS and UxNB, and fast handover operations may cause security issues in the use of UxNB for capacity injection. This new protocol also suggests performing UE handover from terrestrial to UxNB as a group. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no authentication solution between BSs according to LTE and 5G standards. The proposed scheme provides a solution for the authentication of UxNB by the terrestrial BS. Additionally, a credential sharing phase for each UE in handover is not required in the proposed method. The absence of a credential sharing step saves resources by reducing the number of communications between BSs. Moreover, many UE handover operations are completed in concise time within the proposed group handover method.

Motivation & Objective

• To address the lack of standardized mutual authentication mechanisms between terrestrial base stations and drone-mounted base stations (UxNBs) in LTE and 5G networks.
• To reduce signaling overhead and handover latency in dense user equipment (UE) environments such as stadiums.
• To enable efficient, collective handover of multiple UEs from terrestrial BS to UxNB without requiring individual credential sharing per UE.
• To enhance network capacity and quality of service (QoS) in high-traffic scenarios through fast, secure UxNB deployment.

Proposed method

• Proposes a mutual authentication protocol between terrestrial base stations and UxNBs to establish secure communication channels.
• Introduces a group handover mechanism that allows multiple UEs to be handed over simultaneously from a terrestrial BS to a UxNB.
• Eliminates the need for per-UE credential sharing during handover by leveraging pre-established credentials and group-based authentication.
• Uses a centralized credential management phase to minimize signaling between BSs and reduce resource consumption.
• Employs a lightweight key exchange mechanism to ensure fast and secure handover operations.
• Designs the protocol to be compatible with existing LTE and 5G standards, focusing on interoperability and scalability.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can mutual authentication be securely established between a terrestrial base station and a drone-mounted base station (UxNB) in the absence of standardized protocols?
• RQ2 What is the most efficient way to perform handover for multiple UEs in high-density environments without incurring per-UE signaling overhead?
• RQ3 Can a group-based handover mechanism reduce handover latency and signaling load compared to individual UE handover procedures?
• RQ4 How can credential sharing be minimized or eliminated during UxNB offloading while maintaining security?

Key findings

• The proposed scheme eliminates the need for per-UE credential sharing during handover, significantly reducing signaling overhead between base stations.
• The group handover mechanism enables fast and concurrent offloading of multiple UEs, reducing overall handover completion time.
• Mutual authentication between terrestrial BS and UxNB is achieved using a lightweight, standardized-compatible protocol, enhancing security without increasing complexity.
• The protocol reduces resource consumption by minimizing inter-BS communications, improving scalability in dense deployment scenarios.
• The scheme supports rapid deployment of UxNBs for capacity injection in high-traffic areas such as stadiums, maintaining QoS under load.
• The method is compatible with existing LTE and 5G standards, enabling practical integration into future mobile networks.