Title: A visual way to talk to strangers: authentication in wireless pervasive computing

Authors: Dongwan Shin, William Claycomb, Seunghyun Im

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Pl., Socorro, NM 87801, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Pl., Socorro, NM 87801, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Johnstown, PA 15904, USA

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss a novel approach to identifying entities involved in ad-hoc wireless communications through using an effficient visual code system called UbiCode. UbiCode, used in an out-of-band channel in order to bootstrap trust between entities unknown to each other, facilitates a mechanism for demonstrative identification of entities involved, thereby enabling secure spontaneous communications among them in wireless pervasive computing environments. We present the design of the visual code system as well as different types of identification protocols leveraging the visual code system. We also demonstrate our approach through a proof-of-concept implementation.

Keywords: pervasive computing; authentication; visual code; wireless ad hoc networks; wireless networks; identification protocols.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAHUC.2010.033000

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 2010 Vol.5 No.4, pp.252 - 260

Published online: 06 May 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article