Federated Authentication for DLT in Intelligent Transportation Systems Based on Certificateless Cryptography

Abstract

The integration of multiple distributed ledgers in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) introduces challenges for scalable and interoperable authentication. Traditional schemes, which rely heavily on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), face limitations related to certificate management and key escrow. To address these issues, we propose a federated authentication system based on certificateless public key cryptography (CL-PKC) to enable seamless cross-domain and cross-chain authentication without relying on traditional certificates. The proposed approach is designed to operate at the edge, where authentication is performed close to the user to reduce latency and support mobility. Leveraging the CL-PKC scheme, each user independently generates and manages their own cryptographic keys. Simulation results show reduced credential generation time, lower network usage, and improved latency under heavy and cross-domain conditions.