Lightweight authentication is one of the solutions proposed in order to reduce the time required for authentication during vertical handoff across heterogeneous networks. Reducing the handoff latency is considered to be a challenging issue. It arises when a user requires maintaining its service continuity while traveling across heterogeneous networks. For example, a mobile user may change access networks while being engaged in different scenarios, such as browsing Internet, using real-time applications or collaborating in cooperative information systems. Delay in the vertical handoff creates many problems, i.e. packet loss, service interruption, security problems, etc. Fast and lightweight authentication schemes are always tempted in such application domains because of many benefits, for instance seamless and efficient handoff, service continuity, guaranteed quality of service (QoS) and suitability for real-time applications while maintaining security. Various techniques have been proposed in this domain to reduce authentication delay. However, these methods do not fully address all the issues in the problem domain; for example, these methods have deficiencies in terms of security, monetary cost, signaling cost and packet latency. In this paper, a comparative study of different lightweight authentication methods is presented but the main focus of this work is one of the different implementations. An overview of major problems and their solutions are presented along with their strengths and limitations. Different emerging research areas are also presented in the domain of lightweight authentication in the vertical handoff.

中文翻译：

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垂直切换中轻量级认证方案的调查

轻量级认证是为了减少跨异构网络垂直切换期间认证所需时间而提出的解决方案之一。减少切换延迟被认为是一个具有挑战性的问题。当用户在跨异构网络旅行时需要保持其服务连续性时，就会出现这种情况。例如，移动用户可能会在参与不同场景（例如浏览互联网、使用实时应用程序或在协作信息系统中协作）时改变接入网络。垂直切换的延迟会产生很多问题，例如丢包、服务中断、安全问题等。快速和轻量级的认证方案总是在这些应用领域受到诱惑，因为它有很多好处，例如无缝和高效的切换、服务连续性、保证服务质量 (QoS) 和对实时应用程序的适用性，同时保持安全性。在这个领域中已经提出了各种技术来减少认证延迟。然而，这些方法并不能完全解决问题域中的所有问题；例如，这些方法在安全性、货币成本、信令成本和数据包延迟方面存在缺陷。在本文中，对不同的轻量级身份验证方法进行了比较研究，但这项工作的主要重点是不同的实现之一。介绍了主要问题及其解决方案的概述以及它们的优势和局限性。在垂直切换中的轻量级认证领域也提出了不同的新兴研究领域。