Communication system and authentication method

Abstract

To provide a communication system and an authentication method that can expand the application range of devices that can perform authentication.SOLUTION: A communication system includes a wireless communication system that connects a terminal device 100 functioning as an authenticated device and an ONU 200 which is a relay device functioning as an authenticating device so that they can wirelessly communicate with each other, and a wired communication system that connects the ONU 200 and an OLT 300 which is an authentication server so that they can perform wired communication with each other. The terminal device and the relay device communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoW, and the ONU 200 and the OLT 300 communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoL to authenticate the terminal device 100.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present technology relates to communication systems and methods of authentication, and more particularly to device authentication. [Background technology]

[0002] In a wireless communication system that transmits and receives wirelessly, authentication may be performed to determine whether a wireless slave device can connect to a wireless master device and to allow only the recognized wireless slave device to belong to the wireless master device. At this time, signal communication based on the IEEE802.1X standard is generally performed, and authentication processing is performed. In a communication system that performs such authentication, the wireless slave device, the wireless master device, and an authentication server are included as devices that constitute the system. Here, the wireless slave device is an authenticated device that functions as a Supplicant. Also, the wireless master device is an authentication device that functions as an Authenticator.

[0003] When performing communication related to authentication, EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is often adopted as an authentication protocol. For example, between a wireless slave device and a wireless master device, communication related to authentication is performed based on EAPoW (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Wireless). Also, between a wireless master device and an authentication server, signals based on EAP are transferred based on EAPoR (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Radius) (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2023-008127 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Meanwhile, FTTH (Fiber To The Home), which uses optical fibers as a transmission path to provide high-speed, wideband broadband services to subscribers' homes, has become widespread. In providing broadband services through FTTH, PON (Passive Optical Network) is often used as a communication system. And, a PON that communicates optical signals based on the Ethernet (registered trademark) standard is EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network). Hereinafter, a communication system based on EPON is referred to as an EPON communication system.

[0006] An EPON communication system has an optical line terminal (OLT) at the central office and an optical network unit (ONU) at the customer premises. In this case, consider a case where the optical line terminal at the customer premises functions as a wireless master and authenticates a wireless slave unit that attempts to belong to the wireless master unit. In this case, it is considered that the wireless slave unit is authenticated using the above-mentioned IEEE802.1X.

[0007] For example, in recent years, security cameras are often installed on the streets for crime prevention purposes. However, it is difficult to install a customer premises optical network unit for each security camera from the standpoint of cost and maintenance. Therefore, it is conceivable to use the security camera as a wireless slave and the customer premises optical network unit as a wireless master unit to perform wireless communication. In this case, a wireless slave unit unrelated to the security camera may connect to the wireless master unit and perform unauthorized communication. For this reason, it is necessary to authenticate the wireless slave unit.

[0008] However, optical line terminals at the central office and at the customer premises often do not implement IP (Internet Protocol) as a communication protocol. Here, in EAPoR, a signal is sent from a source device to a destination authentication server based on an address determined by IP. Therefore, in a communication system composed of devices that do not implement such IP, the wireless master cannot transfer a signal including an authentication frame from a wireless slave device to the authentication server.

[0009] Therefore, it has been desired to realize a communication system and an authentication method that can expand the range of devices that can perform authentication. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The communication system according to this disclosure is a communication system having a wireless communication system that wirelessly connects a terminal device functioning as an authenticated device and a relay device functioning as an authenticating device so that they can communicate with each other, and a wired communication system that connects the relay device and an authentication server so that they can communicate with each other via a wired connection, in which the terminal device and the relay device communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoW (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Wireless), and the relay device and the authentication server communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN) to authenticate the terminal device.

[0011] Furthermore, the authentication method disclosed herein is an authentication method in a communication system in which wireless communication is performed between an authenticated device and an authenticating device, and wired communication is performed between the authenticating device and an authentication server, and includes the steps of: making an authentication request from the authenticated device to the authenticating device using an EAPoW-based signal; the authenticating device converting the EAPoW-based signal into an EAPoL-based signal and forwarding it to the authentication server; the authentication server performing authentication processing and sending the EAPoL-based signal to the authenticating device; and the authentication device converting the EAPoL-based signal into an EAPoW-based signal and forwarding it to the authenticated device. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the communication system disclosed herein, when authenticating a terminal device that is an authenticated device, communication is performed between the terminal device and the relay device that is the authenticating device by signals based on EAPoW, and communication is performed between the relay device and the authentication server by signals based on EAPoL. Therefore, even in a communication system using a device that does not implement IP, it is possible to authenticate a terminal device in the communication system. Therefore, it is possible to increase the types of devices that can perform authentication processing. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an architecture based on IEEE802.1X according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating a flow of an authentication sequence in a communication system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 4] 4 is a diagram showing an EAPoW frame format included in a signal related to authentication between a terminal device 100 and an ONU 200 in the first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 5] 10 is a diagram illustrating an address field value in EAPoW according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6] 10 is a diagram showing an EAPoL frame format included in a signal related to authentication between an ONU 200 and an OLT 300 in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 7] 10 is a diagram illustrating an address field value in EAPoL according to the first embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, a communication device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same reference numerals are the same or equivalent, and are common throughout the entire embodiment described below. In addition, the size relationship of each component in the drawing may differ from the actual one. The form of the components shown in the entire specification is merely an example, and is not limited to the form described in the specification. In particular, the combination of components is not limited to the combination in each embodiment, and components described in other embodiments can be applied to other embodiments. In addition, when there is no need to distinguish or identify multiple devices of the same type that are distinguished by subscripts, the subscripts may be omitted.

[0015] Embodiment 1 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system according to embodiment 1. The communication system according to embodiment 1 will be described for a case in which authentication is performed on a terminal device 100 that performs wireless communication.

[0016] The communication system in FIG. 1 includes an optical line terminal (hereinafter referred to as OLT) 300 at a central office, an optical line terminal (hereinafter referred to as ONU) 200 (ONU 200a to ONU 200b) at a customer premises, and a plurality of terminal devices 100 (terminal device 100a to terminal device 100b). The EPON communication system performs optical communication (optical communication) between the OLT 300 and each ONU 200 using a wired optical fiber that serves as an optical transmission path for transmitting a signal (optical signal) with light as a medium. The wireless communication system between each terminal device 100 and the ONU 200 performs wireless communication by wireless signals, with the terminal device 100 serving as a wireless slave device and the ONU 200 serving as a wireless master device. Therefore, the communication system in the first embodiment includes an EPON communication system and a wireless communication system.

[0017] Here, the splitter 400 connects optical fibers so that each ONU 200 and the OLT 300 can communicate optical signals through the optical fibers in the EPON communication system. The splitter 400 then branches the signal sent from the OLT 300 through the optical fiber to the optical fibers connected to each ONU 200. The splitter 400 also combines the signals from each ONU 200 and sends them to the OLT 300. Here, unless otherwise stated, communication between the ONU 200 and the OLT 300 using optical signals is assumed to be performed through the splitter 400 and the optical fibers.

[0018] The terminal device 100 is a device that performs wireless communication with the ONU 200. Here, although not particularly limited, the terminal device 100 is assumed to be, for example, a security camera installed on a street. The security camera transmits a signal including captured data to the ONU 200. In particular, in the first embodiment, the terminal device 100 is an authenticated device that issues an authentication request by, for example, executing a program that functions as a Supplicant, and receives authentication from the OLT 300 that functions as an authentication server described later. For this reason, the terminal device 100 has a terminal communication unit 110, a terminal authentication processing unit 120, a terminal processing unit 130, and a terminal storage unit 140.

[0019] The terminal communication unit 110 serves as an interface when the terminal device 100 establishes a wireless connection with the ONU 200 and performs wireless communication. The terminal communication unit 110 in the first embodiment particularly performs communication of signals related to authentication. Here, the terminal communication unit 110 performs wireless communication based on, for example, IEEE802.11 for authentication. However, the wireless connection method is not limited to this.

[0020] The terminal authentication processing unit 120 performs processing related to authentication, such as processing a signal related to an authentication request via the terminal communication unit 110. For example, the terminal authentication processing unit 120 performs processing based on a program for executing the function of the Supplicant.

[0021] The terminal processing unit 130 performs processing related to the terminal device 100. For example, in the terminal device 100 of the first embodiment, the terminal processing unit 130 transmits data obtained by processing a captured video.

[0022] The terminal storage unit 140 stores data required for the terminal device 100 to operate, process, and the like. The terminal storage unit 140 in the first embodiment particularly stores data required for processing performed by the terminal authentication processing unit 120. Hereinafter, operations performed by the terminal communication unit 110, the terminal authentication processing unit 120, the terminal processing unit 130, and the terminal storage unit 140 will be described as being performed by the terminal device 100.

[0023] The OLT 300 and the ONU 200 constitute an EPON communication system. The OLT 300 is a higher-level device of the ONU 200, and serves as one of the terminal devices in the EPON communication system. The OLT 300 performs, for example, a process of converting an optical signal transmitted from the ONU 200 through an optical fiber into an electrical signal, and sends the signal to a device (not shown) outside the communication system, a telecommunication line (not shown), or the like. The OLT 300 also converts an electrical signal sent from a device outside the communication system into an optical signal, and sends the signal to the optical fiber. In particular, in the first embodiment, the OLT 300 serves as an authentication server that performs a process related to authentication for attributing the terminal device 100 wirelessly connected to the ONU 200 to the ONU 200, for example, by executing a program that functions as an authentication server. For this reason, the OLT 300 has an OLT communication unit 310, an OLT authentication processing unit 320, an OLT processing unit 330, and an OLT storage unit 340.

[0024] The OLT communication unit 310 serves as an interface when the OLT 300 performs optical communication using optical signals with the ONU 200. Here, the OLT communication unit 310 performs communication based on IEEE802.03 with regard to authentication.

[0025] The OLT authentication processing unit 320 performs processing related to authentication of the terminal device 100, such as issuing a server certificate and storing in the OLT storage unit 340 a MAC (Media Access Control) address of the terminal device 100 related to the authentication.

[0026] The OLT authentication processing unit 320 performs processing based on a program for executing the function of an authentication server, for example. For example, the OLT authentication processing unit 320 performs processing as an authentication server, such as determining whether to authenticate the terminal device 100 based on an authentication request from the terminal device 100.

[0027] The OLT processing unit 330 performs processing as an OLT. For example, the OLT processing unit 330 combines electrical signals sent from external telecommunication lines, converts them into optical signals, and transmits the optical signals to the optical fibers of the EPON communication system. The OLT processing unit 330 also decomposes the combined optical signals from the ONUs 200, converts them into electrical signals, and sends them to the external telecommunication lines.

[0028] The OLT storage unit 340 stores data required for the OLT 300 to operate, process, etc. The OLT storage unit 340 in the first embodiment particularly stores data related to authentication by the OLT authentication processing unit 320, such as a server certificate and a MAC address of the terminal device 100. Hereinafter, operations performed by the OLT communication unit 310, the OLT authentication processing unit 320, the OLT processing unit 330, and the OLT storage unit 340 will be described as being performed by the OLT 300.

[0029] The ONU 200, which is a relay device, performs wireless communication with the terminal device 100 as a wireless master device. The ONU 200 also configures an EPON communication system with the OLT 300, and performs optical communication with the OLT 300 via optical fiber. The ONU 200 serves as the other end device in the EPON communication system. In particular, in the first embodiment, the ONU 200 serves as an authentication device that mediates (bridges) the authentication process between the terminal device 100 and the OLT 300, which is an authentication server, by executing a program that functions as an authenticator. For this reason, the ONU 200 has an ONU communication unit 210, an ONU authentication processing unit 220, an ONU processing unit 230, and an ONU storage unit 240.

[0030] The ONU communication unit 210 serves as an interface when the ONU 200 performs wireless communication by wirelessly connecting with the terminal device 100 and performs optical communication with the OLT 300. For this reason, the ONU communication unit 210 includes an ONU wireless communication unit 211 and an ONU optical communication unit 212.

[0031] The ONU authentication processing unit 220 performs processes such as transferring signals related to authentication between the terminal device 100 and the OLT 300. The ONU authentication processing unit 220 performs processes based on a program for executing the function of an Authenticator.

[0032] The ONU processing unit 230 performs processes related to the operation of the ONU 200, such as converting between optical signals and electrical signals between the OLT 300 and the ONU 200. It also performs processes such as converting between wireless signals and electrical signals between the ONU processing unit 230 and the terminal device 100.

[0033] The ONU storage unit 240 stores data required for the ONU 200 to operate, process, etc. Hereinafter, operations performed by the ONU communication unit 210, the ONU authentication processing unit 220, the ONU processing unit 230, and the ONU storage unit 240 will be described as being performed by the ONU 200.

[0034] 2 is a diagram for explaining an architecture based on IEEE802.1X according to the embodiment 1. In the communication system according to the embodiment 1, EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is used as an authentication protocol.

[0035] Since wireless communication is performed between the terminal device 100, which is the device to be authenticated, and the ONU 200, which is the authenticating device, communication related to authentication is performed using packet signals based on the EAPoW (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Wireless) standard.

[0036] Furthermore, ONU 200 and OLT 300, which serves as an authentication server, are connected by optical fiber, and communication related to authentication is carried out by packet signals based on the EAPoL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN) standard.

[0037] Generally, communication related to authentication is performed between the authentication device and the authentication server based on EAPoR (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Radius). However, since the ONU200 and the OLT300 do not implement IP, communication based on EAPoR cannot be performed. Therefore, in the communication system of the first embodiment, in an optical communication system in which communication is performed between the ONU200 and the OLT300, communication is performed using signals based on EAPoL.

[0038] Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining the flow of an authentication sequence in the communication system according to the first embodiment. The authentication process in the first embodiment will be explained with reference to Fig. 3. In order to establish a wireless communication connection, the terminal device 100 transmits a signal requesting association to the ONU 200 serving as an access point (step S1). The ONU 200 transmits a signal responding to the association request from the terminal device 100, and establishes a wireless communication connection (step S2). In order to make an authentication request, the terminal device 100 starts transmitting a signal based on EAPoW from the terminal device 100 to the ONU 200 (step S3).

[0039] The ONU 200 converts the EAPoW-based signal from the terminal device 100 into an EAPoL-based signal, sends it to the OLT 300, and starts transmission of the EAPoL-based signal (step S11). The OLT 300 sends an EAPoL-based signal to the ONU 200, requesting the terminal device 100 to send an ID notification (step S12).

[0040] The ONU 200 converts the EAPoL-based signal requesting transmission of an ID notification from the OLT 300 into an EAPoW-based signal and sends it to the terminal device 100 (step S4). The terminal device 100 sends an EAPoW-based signal related to the ID notification to the ONU 200 (step S5).

[0041] The ONU 200 converts the EAPoW-based signal from the terminal device 100 into an EAPoL-based signal and sends it to the OLT 300, and sends a signal related to ID notification (step S13).

[0042] Then, authentication processing is performed between the terminal device 100, which is the device to be authenticated, and the OLT 300, which is the authentication server, via the ONU 200, which is the authenticating device. For example, EAP-TLS is used as the authentication method. In EAP-TLS, a client certificate is sent from the terminal device 100 to the OLT 300. Also, a server certificate is sent from the OLT 300 to the terminal device 100.

[0043] Then, the OLT 300 transmits to the ONU 200 a signal based on EAPoL indicating that the authentication of the terminal device 100 has been successful (step S14).

[0044] The ONU 200 converts the EAPoL-based signal indicating successful authentication from the OLT 300 into an EAPoW-based signal and sends it to the terminal device 100 (step S6). In the communication system according to the first embodiment, authentication of the terminal device 100 is performed according to the above-mentioned procedure.

[0045] Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an EAPoW frame format included in a signal related to authentication between the terminal device 100 and the ONU 200 in the first embodiment. Fig. 5 is a diagram explaining address field values ​​in the EAPoW according to the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 4, the EAPoW has a field in which data related to MAC addresses such as the destination and source of a signal is stored. Here, the EAPoW has fields for Address 1, Address 2, and Address 3. Here, the MAC address is an address unique to each device connected to a telecommunications network.

[0046] In the communication system according to the first embodiment, a case will be described in which a signal related to authentication is sent from the terminal device 100, which is the device to be authenticated, to the OLT 300, which is the authentication server, via the ONU 200, which is the authentication device and access point. At this time, the signal is sent from the wireless communication system to the EPON communication system, which is a wired system. A signal based on EAPoW is sent from the terminal device 100 to the ONU 200.

[0047] When the terminal device 100 starts a request for authentication, the first signal sent based on EAPoW has a Type field value of "0x01". Then, the BSSID for identifying the wireless network is stored in Address 1. Furthermore, the MAC address of the terminal device 100, which is the source, is stored in Address 2. Here, at the start of authentication, the MAC address of the OLT 300, which is the authentication server, becomes unknown data for the terminal device 100. Therefore, the MAC address of the ONU 200, which is the access point that serves as the authentication device, is stored in Address 3, in which the MAC address of the destination is stored.

[0048] Next, a case will be described where a signal based on EAPoW is sent from the OLT 300 to the terminal device 100 from the ONU 200. At this time, the signal is sent from the wired EPON communication system to the wireless communication system. The OLT 300 can handle the MAC address of the terminal device 100 as known data. Therefore, the MAC address of the terminal device 100, which is the destination, is stored in Address 1. Furthermore, the BSSID that identifies the wireless network is stored in Address 2. Furthermore, the MAC address of the OLT 300, which is the source, is stored in Address 3.

[0049] When the terminal device 100, which has the MAC address of the OLT 300 as known data due to the signal transmission from the OLT 300, transmits a signal based on EAPoW to the ONU 200, the MAC address of the destination OLT 300 is stored in Address 3.

[0050] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an EAPoL frame format included in a signal related to authentication between ONU 200 and OLT 300 in the first embodiment. Fig. 7 is a diagram explaining address field values ​​in EAPoL according to the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 6, EAPoL has fields in which data related to the MAC addresses of the destination and source are stored.

[0051] In the address field values ​​in EAPoL related to authentication of ONU200 by OLT300, in a signal based on EAPoL sent from ONU200 to OLT300, the destination MAC address stores the MAC address of OLT300, and the source MAC address stores the MAC address of ONU200. Also, in a signal based on EAPoL sent from OLT300 to ONU200, the destination MAC address stores the group address of "01:80:c2:00:00:03", and the source MAC address stores the MAC address of OLT300.

[0052] On the other hand, in the address field value in EAPoL related to authentication of the terminal device 100 by the OLT 300, in a signal based on EAPoL sent from the ONU 200 to the OLT 300, the MAC address of the OLT 300 is stored in the destination MAC address, and the MAC address of the terminal device 100 is stored in the source MAC address to indicate that the signal is related to authentication of the terminal device 100. Here, in a signal based on EAPoW from the terminal device 100, the MAC address stored in address 2 is the MAC address of the terminal device 100. In a signal based on EAPoL sent from the OLT 300 to the ONU 200, the MAC address of the terminal device 100 is stored in the destination MAC address, and the MAC address of the OLT 300 is stored in the source MAC address. Here, when the destination MAC address is a group address, there is a provision that bridging (mediation) is not allowed, and therefore termination must be performed at the authenticated device and the authenticating device, respectively. Therefore, in the communication system of embodiment 1, the destination MAC address in the signal based on EAPoL is set to the MAC address of terminal device 100, so that ONU 200 can identify whether the signal is related to authentication for ONU 200 or related to authentication for terminal device 100 by referring to the destination MAC address of the received EAPoL.

[0053] As described above, in this embodiment, in a signal based on EAPoL sent from ONU200 to OLT300, in case of authentication of ONU200, the address of ONU200 is stored in the source MAC address, but in case of authentication of terminal device 100, the MAC address of terminal device 100 is stored in the source MAC address. This makes it possible for OLT300 to distinguish whether the signal received from ONU200 is a signal related to authentication of ONU200 or a signal related to authentication of terminal device 100.

[0054] As described above, according to the communication system of the first embodiment, the terminal device 100 serving as a wireless slave device and the ONU200 serving as a wireless master device are connected to each other in a wireless communication system. The ONU200 and the OLT300 are connected to each other in an EPON communication system in which communication is performed by optical communication using light as a medium. When authenticating the terminal device 100 serving as a device to be authenticated, the terminal device 100 and the ONU200 serving as an authenticating device communicate with each other using signals based on the EAPoW standard. The ONU200 and the OLT300 serving as an authentication server communicate with signals based on the EAPoL standard. Therefore, signals related to authentication can be communicated between the terminal device 100 serving as a device to be authenticated, the ONU200 serving as an authenticating device, and the OLT300 serving as an authentication server without performing communication based on EAPoR. Therefore, in a communication system including an EPON communication system that does not implement IP, it is possible to authenticate the terminal device 100 serving as a wireless slave device belonging to the ONU200 having a function as a wireless master device by using a MAC address or the like. Furthermore, the OLT 300 serving as the authentication server can centrally manage not only the ONUs 200 serving as the authenticating devices, but also the terminal devices 100 serving as devices to be authenticated belonging to the ONUs 200 .

[0055] Embodiment 2 In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the EPON communication system that does not implement IP has been described as a wired communication system, but this is not limited to this. For example, the L2 switch may have a program that functions as an authentication server, and may configure a wired communication system that functions as an authentication server.

[0056] For example, an L2 switch is a device that configures a network based on the data link layer, which is Layer 2 in the OSI reference model. An L2 switch stores, for example, the MAC addresses of devices connected by wire and communicates based on the MAC addresses. This allows communication without using IP.

[0057] By communicating between a device that will be a relay device and a device that will be an authentication server using signals based on EAPoL to authenticate the terminal device 100 that will be the device to be authenticated, the types of devices that can become authentication servers can be expanded. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 100, 100a, 100b Terminal equipment 110 Terminal communication unit 120 Terminal authentication processing unit 130 Terminal Processing Section 140 Terminal memory section 200, 200a, 200b ONU 210 ONU Communications Department 211 ONU Wireless Communication Department 212 ONU Optical Communication Section 220 ONU authentication processing unit 230 ONU Processing Unit 240 ONU storage unit 300 OLT 310 OLT Communication Department 320 OLT authentication processing unit 330 OLT Processing Section 340 OLT storage unit 400 Splitter

Claims

1. A communication system including a wireless communication system that wirelessly connects a terminal device functioning as an authenticated device and a relay device functioning as an authenticating device so that they can communicate with each other, and a wired communication system that connects the relay device and an authentication server so that they can communicate with each other through a wired connection, A communication system in which the terminal device and the relay device communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoW (Extensible Authentication Protocol over Wireless), and the relay device and the authentication server communicate with each other using signals based on EAPoL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN), thereby authenticating the terminal device.

2. the relay device is a customer premises optical line terminal that converts between electrical signals and optical signals; the authentication server is a central office side optical network unit that is a host device relative to the customer premises side optical network unit; The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the wired communication system is an optical communication system connected to enable optical communication via optical fiber.

3. The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the authentication server is an L2 switch.

4. 4. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein source and destination addresses in communication are MAC addresses unique to said terminal device, said relay device and said authentication server.

5. 1. An authentication method in a communication system in which wireless communication is performed between an authenticatee and an authentication device, and wired communication is performed between the authentication device and an authentication server, comprising: sending an authentication request from the authenticatee to the authenticator using an EAPoW-based signal; the authentication device converting an EAPoW-based signal into an EAPoL-based signal and transferring the converted signal to the authentication server; the authentication server performs an authentication process and sends a signal based on EAPoL to the authentication device; the authenticator converting the EAPoL-based signal into an EAPoW-based signal and transmitting the converted signal to the authenticatee; An authentication method having the following features:

Images