Performance evaluation of Hard and Soft Wimax by using PGP and PKM protocols with RSA Algorithm

Wimax is a wireless metropolitan area network (MAN) technology that provides interoperability, carrier class broadband wireless connectivity to fixed, portable for the last mile. Wimax (Worldwide interoperability for microwave access) is based on IEEE 802.16 standards that provide wireless access to metropolitan area networks and there are several security problems The Wimax technology has great impact in wireless communication and has notched the top position in the wireless technology. But there still are a lot of securities concerns while using such wireless technologies, especially for Wimax where we have to transfer secure data at high rate from one station to another station. Wimax works at the longer distances so there is more security required to protect the communication from attacks and threats. Wimax is a wireless network which is considered to be more vulnerable to attacks and threats than wired network as data transfer publicity in open areas. For secure the communication in Wimax various algorithms and security protocols are used. The researchers have developed various mechanisms which have made a great impact on secure communications in Wimax. Various encryption and authentication mechanisms are being used for secure communication. The concept of use multiple keys with RSA algorithms using PKM (Privacy & Key management) protocol has been used for secure communication. This concept is extended in this paper by combining PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) protocol with RSA algorithm to further improve the secure communication in Wimax. This paper compares the performance of Hard Wimax and Soft Wimax using PKM and PGP protocols over RSA. The performance is analyzed over NS 2.34 simulator using delay, throughput and packet delivery as performance metrics.