WAP:

Introduction:

The WAP protocol was designed to show internet-contents on wireless clients, like
mobile phones.

WML is the language used to create pages to be displayed in a WAP browser.

In our WAP tutorial you will learn about WAP and WML.

You will learn how to convert your HTML pages to pocket format, so that your
information can be accessed from wireless clients, like mobile phones.

In the past, wireless Internet access has been limited by the capabilities of handheld devices and wireless
networks.

WAP utilizes Internet standards such as XML, user datagram protocol (UDP), and Internet protocol (IP).
Many of the protocols are based on Internet standards such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) but have
been optimized for the unique constraints of the wireless environment: low bandwidth, high latency, and
less connection stability.

Internet standards such as hypertext markup language (HTML), HTTP and transmission control protocol
(TCP) are inefficient over mobile networks, requiring large amounts of mainly text-based data to be sent.
Standard HTML content cannot be effectively displayed on the small-size screens of pocket-sized mobile
phones and pagers.

WAP utilizes binary transmission for greater compression of data and is optimized for long latency and low
bandwidth. WAP sessions cope with intermittent coverage and can operate over a wide variety of wireless
transports.

WML and wireless markup language script (WMLScript) are used to produce WAP content. They make
optimum use of small displays, and navigation may be performed with one hand. WAP content is scalable
from a two-line text display on a basic device to a full graphic screen on the latest smart phones and
communicators.

WAP Architecture Or Protocol Stack:

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) refers to a group of related technologies and
protocols widely used as a standard protocol in providing Internet access to mobile
phones or other thin-client devices.

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)
1 Wireless Application Environment (WAE)

The Wireless Application Environment (WAE) is a general-purpose application

environment based on a
combination of World Wide Web (WWW) and Mobile Telephony technologies. The
primary objective of the
WAE effort is to establish an interoperable environment that will allow operators and
service providers to build
applications and services that can reach a wide variety of different wireless platforms in
an efficient and useful
manner. WAE includes a micro-browser environment containing the following
functionality:
Wireless Markup Language (WML) – a lightweight markup language, similar to
HTML, but optimised for
use in hand-held mobile terminals;
WMLScript – a lightweight scripting language, similar to JavaScript™;
Wireless Telephony Application (WTA, WTAI) – telephony services and programming
interfaces; and

2 Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)

The Wireless Session Protocol (WSP) provides the application layer of WAP with a
consistent interface for two
session services. The first is a connection-oriented service that operates above the
transaction layer protocol WTP.
The second is a connectionless service that operates above a secure or non-secure
datagram service (WDP).

3 Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)
The Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP) runs on top of a datagram service and provides
as a light-weight
transaction-oriented protocol that is suitable for implementation in “thin” clients (mobile
stations). WTP operates
efficiently over secure or non-secure wireless datagram networks and provides the
following features:
Three classes of transaction service:
Unreliable one-way requests,
Reliable one-way requests, and
Reliable two-way request-reply transactions;
Optional user-to-user reliability - WTP user triggers the confirmation of each received
message;
Optional out-of-band data on acknowledgements;
PDU concatenation and delayed acknowledgement to reduce the number of messages
sent; and
4 Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)

WTLS is a security protocol based upon the industry-standard Transport Layer Security
(TLS) protocol, formerly
known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). WTLS is intended for use with the WAP transport
protocols and has been
optimised for use over narrow-band communication channels. WTLS provides the
following features:
Data integrity – WTLS contains facilities to ensure that data sent between the terminal
and an application
server is unchanged and uncorrupted.
Privacy – WTLS contains facilities to ensures that data transmitted between the
terminal and an application
server is private and cannot be understood by any intermediate parties that may have
intercepted the data
stream.
Authentication – WTLS contains facilities to establish the authenticity of the terminal
and application
server.
Denial-of-service protection – WTLS contains facilities for detecting and rejecting data
that is replayed or
not successfully verified. WTLS makes many typical denial-of-service attacks harder to
accomplish and
protects the upper protocol layers.

5 Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP)

The Transport layer protocol in the WAP architecture is referred to as the Wireless
Datagram Protocol (WDP).

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)
The WDP layer operates above the data capable bearer services supported by the various
network types. As a
general transport service, WDP offers a consistent service to the upper layer protocols of
WAP and communicate
transparently over one of the available bearer services.
Since the WDP protocols provide a common interface to the upper layer protocols the
Security, Session and
Application layers are able to function independently of the underlying wireless network.
This is accomplished by
adapting the transport layer to specific features of the underlying bearer. By keeping the
transport layer interface
and the basic features consistent, global interoperability can be achieved using mediating
gateways.

Bearers

The WAP protocols are designed to operate over a variety of different bearer services,
including short message,
circuit-switched data, and packet data. The bearers offer differing levels of quality of
service with respect to
throughput, error rate, and delays. The WAP protocols are designed to compensate for or
tolerate these varying
level of service.
Since the WDP layer provides the convergence between the bearer service and the rest of
the WAP stack, the WDP
specification [WDP] lists the bearers that are supported and the techniques used to allow
WAP protocols to run
over each bearer. The list of supported bearers will change over time with new bearers
being added as the wireless
market evolves.

Other Services and Applications

The WAP layered architecture enables other services and applications to utilise the
features of the WAP stack
through a set of well-defined interfaces. External applications may access the session,
transaction, security and
transport layers directly. This allows the WAP stack to be used for applications and
services not currently specified
by WAP, but deemed to be valuable for the wireless market. For example, applications,
such as electronic mail,
calendar, phone book, notepad, and electronic commerce, or services, such as white and
yellow pages, may be
developed to use the WAP protocols.

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)
Architecture of the WAP Gateway :

WDPThe WAP datagram protocol (WDP) is the transport layer that sends and receives
messages via any available bearer network, including SMS, USSD, CSD, CDPD, IS–136
packet data, and GPRS.
WTLSWireless transport layer security (WTLS), an optional security layer, has
encryption facilities that provide the secure transport service required by many
applications, such as e-commerce.

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)
WTPThe WAP transaction protocol (WTP) layer provides transaction support, adding
reliability to the datagram service provided by WDP.

HTTP Interface

The HTTP interface serves to retrieve WAP content from the Internet requested by the
mobile device.

WAP content (WML and WMLScript) is converted into a compact binary form for
transmission over the air.

Sohil(CCET,Wadhwan)