Here is what I did for polling. I used MD5 and DES:
On the Controller:
config t
snmp-server user "user1" auth-prot md5 password1 priv-prot AES password1
(on the controller use the commandline. There seems to be a problem with entering SNMPv3 credentials on the GUI).
in Airwave:
After doing that and saving, go back to the monitoring tab and click on poll now once:
Keep refreshing the page and the status should show Up(ok) and the Last contacted should be the current time. If the Status shows SNMP failed, go back and check your work.
If that is working, setup SNMPv3 Traps on Airwave and the controller by following the instructions here: You can setup SNMP v3 traps on Airwave and the controller using the instructions here: http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Monitoring-Management-Location/How-to-configure-traps-when-using-snmpv3-for-Airwave-and/ta-p/242731