Techniques for privacy and authentication in personal communication systems

Describes progress in the development of authentication and key agreement (AKA) processes for personal communication systems (PCS). A conceptual framework is first established; this is a three-part general model that characterizes all AKA techniques. Then three proposed AKA methods are compared using this model. These methods are the so-called secret key method of GSM, the secret key method of United States Digital Cellular (IS-54, IS-95), and a public key/secret key method. Finally, a summary is presented that indicates the AKA method of preference for some proposed PCS air interfaces that are under development by standards bodies.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>