The growing low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have become an essential part of the fifth-generation (5G) non-terrestrial network (NTN) market. These satellites can enable direct-to-cell connectivity for mobile devices and support various applications with ubiquitous coverage for 5G and beyond networks. However, satellite-based NTNs bring several challenges to the 5G handover protocol design. The high mobility of satellites can lead to signaling storms and security compromises during handovers. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a secure and efficient group handover protocol. The protocol's effectiveness is evaluated on a custom discrete-event simulator and compared against the baseline 5G handover scheme. The simulator is made publicly available.
@article{arxiv.2403.13936,
title = {Secure and Efficient Group Handover Protocol in 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks},
author = {Bohan Zhang and Peng Hu and Ahmad Akbari Azirani and Mohammad A. Salahuddin and Diogo Barradas and Noura Limam and Raouf Boutaba},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.13936},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
Accepted by the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 9-13 June 2024, Denver, CO, USA