WVC: Towards Secure Device Paring for Mobile Augmented Reality

In mobile augmented reality applications, how to build a secure device connection between two previously unassociated devices without prior set-up is challenging, which also refers to the problem of device pairing. Most existing approaches to device pairing either have certain limits to be utilized in the environment of augmented reality or lack considerations of security issues. In this article, we design WVC, an intuitive, user-friendly, and secure device paring system for mobile augmented reality. It enables users to connect to a neighboring device by waving a finger to click towards it in the air. The system uses critical features from finger tracking trajectories to understand which device a user wants to interact with. Then, it designs key generation and correction algorithms to enhance security in device communication. In addition, we present solutions to defend against malicious attacks. We implement and test the system with 10 volunteers. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the system under varied scenarios in which devices are close to each other at a small angle or located at different heights within 2m.