Amity School of Engineering & Technology

Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP)

Dr. Manoj Kumar Shukla

Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
ASET, Amity University, Noida
E-mail:– mkshukla@amity.edu

1
 Introduction
• WAP is designed to work with all wireless
network technologies (GSM, CDMA, TDMA)
• WAP Specification
• A programming model based on the WWW
Programming Model
• A markup language, the Wireless Markup
Language, adhering to XML
• A specification of a small browser suitable for a
mobile, wireless terminal
• A lightweight communications protocol stack
• A framework for wireless telephony applications
(WTAs)

2
Architectural Overview

3
Architectural Overview

4
 WAP: Main Features
• Browser
• “Micro browser”, similar to existing web browsers
• Markup language
• Similar to HTML, adapted to mobile devices
• Script language
• Similar to Javascript, adapted to mobile devices
• Gateway
• Transition from wireless to wired world
• Server
• “Wap/Origin server”, similar to existing web servers
• Protocol layers
• Transport layer, security layer, session layer etc.
• Telephony application interface
• Access to telephony functions
WAP Programming Model

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 WAP Architecture

Client Web Server

WAP Gateway
WML

with WML-Script
WML Encoder CGI

WML Decks
WML- Scripts
WSP/WTP WMLScript
HTTP etc.
Script
Compiler
WTAI
Protocol Adapters Content
Etc.

Source: WAP Forum

 WAP Application Server

Client WAP Application Server

WML

with WML-Script
WML Encoder
Application

WML Decks
WML- WMLScript Logic
WSP/WTP
Script Compiler
WTAI Protocol Adapters Content
Etc.

Source: WAP Forum

 WAP Architecture

• Another look

Key Components
• Origin/Web Server
• WAP Gateway/Proxy
• WAP Protocol Stack
• Micro Browser
• WML/WML Script
• Transcoders
• WTA

Source: WAP Forum

 WAP: Network Elements
fixed network wireless network

HTML WML WAP Binary WML

Internet
filter proxy

HTML WML
HTML
filter/ Binary WML
WAP
web HTML proxy
server

WTA Binary WML

server
PSTN

Binary WML: binary file format for clients

Source: Schiller
WAP Infrastructure

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 WAP Design Considerations
• Limitations of the mobile node
– Small screen size
– Limited input capability
– Limited processors, memory, and battery life

• Wireless networks
– Relatively low bandwidth
– High latency
– Unpredictable availability and stability
compared to wired connections

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 WAP Specifies

• Wireless Application Environment

• WML Microbrowser
• WMLScript Virtual Machine
• WMLScript Standard Library
• Wireless Telephony Application Interface (WTAI)
• WAP content types

• Wireless Protocol Stack

• Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)
• Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)
• Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)
• Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP)
• Wireless network interface definitions
 WAP Stack

Runs on top of WDP

Provided lightweight X-oriented service
• Unreliable 1-way request
MicroBrowser (WML,
• Reliable 1-way/2-way req./response
WMLScript, WTA, WTAI)

Lightweight SSL
Uses WIM/PKI-Cards

Datagram service on different

bearers
Convergence between bearer
services

Different Wireless Tech.

Source: WAP Forum

 WAP Stack
• WAE (Wireless Application Environment):
• Architecture: application model, browser, gateway, server
• WML: XML-Syntax, based on card stacks, variables, ...
• WTA: telephone services, such as call control, phone book etc.
• WSP (Wireless Session Protocol):
• Provides HTTP 1.1 functionality
• Supports session management, security, etc.
• WTP (Wireless Transaction Protocol):
• Provides reliable message transfer mechanisms
• Based on ideas from TCP/RPC
• WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security):
• Provides data integrity, privacy, authentication functions
• Based on ideas from TLS/SSL
• WDP (Wireless Datagram Protocol):
• Provides transport layer functions
• Based on ideas from UDP

Content encoding, optimized for low-bandwidth channels, simple devices

 WAP Related Protocols
• Wireless Markup Language (WML)
– Designed to describe content and format for
presenting data on devices with limited
bandwidth, limited screen size, and limited user
input capability
– Mainly text-based information that attempts to
capture the essence of the Web page and that is
organized for easy access for users of mobile
devices

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 WAP Related Protocols (cont)
• WMLScript
– A scripting language with similarities to
JavaScript
– Designed for defining script-type programs in a
user device with limited processing power and
memory
• Wireless Application Environment
– Specifies an application framework for wireless
devices such as mobile telephones, pagers, and
PDAs

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WAE Client Components

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 WAP Related Protocols (cont)
• Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)
– WSP is a transaction-oriented protocol based
on the concept of a request and a reply
– WSP also defines a server Push operation, in
which the server sends unrequested content to
a client device (e.g. broadcast messages)

• Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)

– WTP provides a reliable transport service but
dispenses with much of the overhead of TCP

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 WAP Related Protocols (cont)
• Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)
– WTLS provides security services between the
mobile device (client) and the WAP gateway
– WTLS is based on the industry-standard
Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol, which
is a refinement of the secure sockets layer (SSL)
– TLS is the standard security protocol used
between Web browsers and Web servers
– WTLS is more efficient than TLS, requiring
fewer message exchanges

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 WAP Related Protocols (cont)
• Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP)
– WDP is used to adapt a higher-layer WAP
protocol to the communication mechanism
used between the mobile node and the WAP
gateway

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