Radiator SIM Pack

Basic information

Radiator SIM Pack is the key component for seamless roaming authentication between mobile and Wi-Fi networks that use SIM-based authentication. Radiator SIM Pack also provides all the functions required for a 3GPP AAA Server.

Benefits of using Radiator SIM Pack:

SIM authentication is designed
for and already used with mobile devices and related infrastructure.
The credentials have already been distributed to customers with
SIMs
SIM authentication is easier to use than customer/client
certificates or username-password authentication.

Radiator SIM Pack also supports IMSI Privacy so that subscriber identity will not
be compromised at any point. All of these features reduce the need for customer support and increase usability for the end users.

Radiator SIM support includes

3GPP AAA server SWm, S6b, and SWa Diameter interfaces
EIR support for 3GPP AAA server
3GPP Diameter Wx interface for direct HSS connections
3GPP Diameter SWx interface for direct HSS connections
3GPP Diameter Cx interface for EAP authentication
M3UA/SIGTRAN interface for MAP based authentication
Support for converting AKA vectors to SIM triplet for lower HSS licensing costs and greater configuration flexibility
Supports MAP/SS7 gateways for connecting to legacy AuC/HLR servers over MAP, SIGTRAN, and other protocols
Full RADIUS accounting support IPv4 and IPv6 support
TCP and SCTP for both IPv4 and IPv6
Full source code supplied

Popular use cases

Wi-Fi offloading

In busy locations with high volumes of mobile traffic like sports stadiums, shopping malls, public transport hubs and underground metros, SIM- and eSIM-based devices can automatically switch from mobile data connections to local Wi-Fi networks. Transferring the data traffic to Wi-Fi networks reduces the load on the mobile network, which improves the coverage and the user experience. In addition, using Wi-Fi roaming services, such as Google Orion Wi-Fi or OpenRoaming, can further reduce costs when carriers can use these additional services for Wi-Fi offloading.

As one of the key use cases for SIM authentication, Wi-Fi offloading enables SIM-based devices to automatically switch data and voice traffic from mobile networks to Wi-Fi networks.

At the same time, IMSI Privacy Protection for Wi-Fi ensures that the mobile user’s identity will be exposed on the Wi-Fi network. This is supported by Radiator and required by newest Android and iOS mobile devices when connecting to the network.

On the configuration side, the basic wifi offloading is somewhat easy to achieve: you only need Radiator SIM Pack, and the connections Wireless Access Gateway (in order to connect to the wifi network) and to the HSS where end user identities are stored. With this connection, Radiator can provide the authentication from mobile users to the wifi network in use.

Voice over Wi-Fi

In recent years there has been a significant rise in Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) in different markets. With VoWiFi, carriers and operators are increasing their indoor coverage overnight to provide better voice coverage to their subscribers and making at the same time savings in their traffic costs. With automatic SIM authentication, enhanced with IMSI Privacy, end-users will never have to consider whether they are connected to a mobile network or to their domestic WiFi network, for example.

Doing seamless call transfer support between WiFi and mobile networks new opportunities for operators. With VoWiFi voice calls and messaging work seamlessly for the end-user – and the operator retains control of the traffic.

Benefits for VoWiFi solution

For operators and carriers, there are several benefits ranging from quality of service to cost savings. With VoWiFi, it is possible to achieve better indoor coverage even with 5G network. Additional benefits come from getting back the control and traffic from voice calls – and WiFi is also a low-cost solution to offload traffic from the mobile network to wifi network.

For end-users, the benefits come from seamless voice and messaging solution between WiFi and mobile networks – and with IMSI Privacy this is widely supported by mobile OS vendors.

In-flight connectivity

One case for Radiator is to implement in-flight connectivity for airline carriers, providing authentication to onboard WiFi that is connected by other means (such as satellite connection) to the internet.

In this scenario, Radiator provides the necessary interfaces for WiFi roaming when subscribers of mobile operators are using their phones during the flight. With smooth WiFi roaming provided by Radiator AAA Server Software, end user devices can connect automatically to the in-flight WiFi network, and continue their use based on the roaming policy agreements between mobile operators and in-flight network operators.

Some of the benefits for this kind of solution are:

For the airline carrier: More value for service as a provider of smoothly connected onboard WiFi as a part of their in-flight services.
For the end user: Better user experience when connecting to onboard WiFi.
For the mobile operator: New product opportunities for mobile operator roaming with airline onboard WiFi.
For the onboard Wi-Fi technology provider: A flexible product with Radiator that provides connectivity to carrier networks via different interfaces.

At the same time, the solution with Radiator AAA server can of course be used in cruise ships and platforms where a smoothly run, commercial onboard WiFi is needed.

On the technical side, Radiator AAA Server, combined with Radiator SIM Pack, is used to provide EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA and EAP-AKA’ authentication and connectivity to different HSS / HLR systems used by different roaming partner carriers and mobile operators. In these cases, the flexibility of Radiator helps to connect to various different systems needed via multiple interfaces.

With this configuration, in addition to handling the authentication traffic, Radiator AAA Server also proxies the accounting traffic to policy enforcement or traffic monitoring solutions that can then use it to provide access to end users, based on their data plan or subscriber profile. The following diagram shows Radiator as part of the architecture for in-flight connectivity.