Security and resource management in heterogeneous wireless networks

Wireless networks have seen phenomenal growth in the last few years and are being increasingly targeted in a wide range of application areas such as health care, the environment, distance education, pervasive computing, enterprise communications, personal communications and emergency services. Future mobile applications will run on a heterogeneous wireless network platform that will integrate different access technologies such as WiFi, WiMAX, 3G+ Cellular, as well as variable topology ad hoc, sensor and mesh networks. The objective is to give wireless users a secure, seamless access and ubiquitous ABC ("Always Best Connected") coverage. However, the success of such a network will largely depend on the effective unification of techniques for security and resource management, which stand out as two critical design issues.The challenge stems from the fact that disparate access networks pose their own resource constraints and have varying vulnerabilities.The primary objective of this research is to develop an integrated security and resource management framework for heterogeneous wireless networks. Toward the realization of this objective, it will investigate effective mechanisms to support end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) for wireless users accessing multimedia services over heterogeneous networks. Vulnerability analysis of each component network will be carried out to determine the intrusions that can be launched. The analyses will be used to design intrusion prevention techniques, with emphasis on lightweight mechanisms. Next, resource requirements of each component network and techniques for maintaining QoS for a given level of security will be evaluated. Finally, an end-to-end architecture that integrates the optimal set of security and resources for a given heterogeneous network configuration will be proposed. The research will provide training for several HQP, including three Ph.D. and twenty masters students. The outcome of the research will be a significant step in the design of ubiquitous and heterogeneous wireless networks, that are not only secure but also provide guaranteed QoS.