WAP Architecture

An overview of the WAP architecture, its protocols and components, and compares this architecture with the
typical internet architecture when using the world wide web.
The basis for transmission of data is formed by different bearer services. WAP does not specify bearer
services, but uses existing data services and will integrate further services.
No special interface has been specified between the bearer service and the next higher layer, the transport
layer with its wireless datagram protocol (WDP) and the additional wireless control message protocol
(WCMP), because the adaptation of these protocols are bearer-specific
The transport layer offers a bearer independent, consistent datagram-oriented service to the higher
layers of the WAP architecture. Communication is done transparently over one of the available bearer
services.
The transport layer service access point (T-SAP) is the common interface to be used by higher layers
independent of the underlying network.
The next higher layer, the security layer with its wireless transport layer security protocol WTLS offers
its service at the security SAP (SEC-SAP). It can offer data integrity, privacy, authentication, and (some)
denial-of-service protection.
The WAP transaction layer with its wireless transaction protocol (WTP) offers a lightweight transaction
service at the transaction SAP (TR-SAP). This service efficiently provides reliable or unreliable requests
and asynchronous transactions.
The session layer with the wireless session protocol (WSP) currently offers two services at the sessionSAP (S-SAP), one connection-oriented and one connectionless if used directly on top of WDP
Finally the application layer with the wireless application environment (WAE) offers a framework for
the integration of different www and mobile telephony applications.
WAP does not always force all applications to use the whole protocol architecture. Applications can use
only a part of the architecture
Components and interface of the WAP 1.x architecture

Different scenarios are possible for the

integration
of
WAP
components
into
existing
wireless and fixed networks.
On the left side, different fixed
networks,
such
as
the
traditional internet and the
public switched telephone
network (PSTN), are shown.
One cannot change protocols
and services of these existing
networks so several new
elements will be implemented
IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

between these networks and the WAP-enabled wireless, mobile devices in a wireless networkon the righthand side.
The current www in the internet offers web pages with the help of HTML and web servers. To be able to
browse these pages or additional pages with handheld devices, a wireless markup language (WML) has been
defined in WAP. Special filters within the fixed network can now translate HTML into WML, web servers can
already provide pages in WML, or the gateways between the fixed and wireless network can translate HTML
into WML. These gateways not only filter pages but also act as proxies for web access.
WML is additionally converted into binary WML for more efficient transmission.

1. Wireless datagram protocol

The wireless datagram protocol (WDP) operates on top of many different bearer services capable of
carrying data.
WDP hides details of the various bearer networks from the other layers of WAP
At the T-SAP WDP offers a consistent datagram transport service. To offer this consistent service, the
adaptation needed in the transport layer
WDP offers more or less the same services as UDP.
WDP offers source and destination port numbers used for multiplexing and demultiplexing of data
respectively.
The service primitive to send a datagram is, TDUnitdata.req with (DA,DP, SA, SP, and UD)
The service primitive to send a datagram is TDUnitdata. req with the destination address (DA),destination
port (DP), Source address (SA), source port (SP), and user data (UD) as mandatory parameters.Destination
and source address are unique addresses for the receiver and sender of the user data..
The T-DUnitdata.ind service primitive indicates the reception of data. Here destination address and port
are only optional parameters.
Error is indicated with the T-DError.ind service primitive .An error code (EC) is returned indicating the
reason for the error to the higherlayer. WDP is not allowed to use this primitive to indicate problems with the
bearer service.

The wireless control message protocol (WCMP) provides error handling mechanisms for WDP used by WDP
nodes and gateways to report errors. such messages are,
(Typical WCMP messages are destination unreachable (route, port, address unreachable), parameter
problem (errors in the packet header), message too big, reassembly failure, or echo request/reply.
WCMP error messages must not be sent as response to other WCMP error messages.
IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

If the bearer already offers IP transmission, WDP (i.e., UDP in this case) relies on the segmentation (called
fragmentation in the IP context) and reassembly capabilities
An additional WDP management entity supports WDP and provides information about changes in the
environment

2. Wireless transport layer security

If requested by an application, a security service, the wireless transport layersecurity (WTLS), can be
integrated into the WAP architecture on top of WDP.
WTLS can provide different levels of security
WTLS is based on the TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security) protocol
optimized for low-bandwidth communication channels
provides
privacy (encryption)
data integrity (MACs)
authentication (public-key and symmetric)
Employs special adapted mechanisms for wireless usage
secure sessions is established b/w nodes to exchange data(Full Handshake)
Optimised algorithms for low BW
Provides low processing power and limited memory
Supports datagram and connection oriented transport layer protocols.
WTLS establishing a secure session
Before data can be exchanged via WTLS, a secure session has to be established. This
session establishment consists of several steps- called f ull handshake

service primitives
SEC-Create req: to initiate the session(SA, SP of the originator, DA, DP of the peer.)
The originator proposes a key exchange suite (KES-RSA), a cipher suite (CS-DES, IDEA) and a compression
method (CM)
SEC-Create res: The peer answers with parameters for the sequence number mode (SNM), the key
refresh cycle (KR) (i.e., how often keys are refreshed within this secure session), the session identifier
IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

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(SID) (which is unique with each peer), and the selected

key exchange suite (KES), cipher suite
(CS), compression method (CM).
SEC-Exchange req: The peer also issues a SEC-Exchange primitive.(peer wishes to perform public-key
authentication with the client)
i.e., the peer requests a client certificate (CC) from the originator
SEC-Commit req: The indicator answers with its certificate and issues the above primitives
This primitive indicates that the handshake is complete.the originator can switch to new state.
SEC-Commit.ind: The certificate is delivered and commited
SEC-Commit.cnf: Confirmation about the establishment of the session. Now the full handshake is
established for secure session, Now data can be transferred.
After setting up a secure connection between two peers, user data can be exchanged.
This is done using the simple SEC-Unitdata primitive

SEC-Unit data: The data transfer is done via this primitive.

Data transfer is secure but unreliable.

ADVANTAGE:
Secure association b/w
client and server
DISADVANTAGE:
Encryption algorithm is
NOT very strong

3. WTP: Wireless Transaction Protocol

WTP manages transactions by conveying requests and responses between a user agent.
WTP has been designed to run on very thin clients, such as mobile phones.
WTP offers several advantages to higher layers, including an improved reliability
over datagram services, improved efficiency over connection-oriented services, and
support for transaction-oriented services such as web browsing.
WTP is on the top of either WDP or WTL
Transaction request/response is called

Three classes of transaction service

WTP includes the following features:
Three classes of transaction service.
Optional user-to-user reliability: WTP user triggers the confirmation of each received message.
Optional out-of-band data on acknowledgments.
PDU concatenation and delayed acknowledgment to reduce the number of messages sent.
Asynchronous transactions.
Concatenation and separation of messages, asynchronous transactions with up to
215 transactions outstanding
WTP is transaction oriented rather than connection oriented.
With WTp, there is no explicit connection setup or teardown but rather a reliable connectionless service.

WTP Transaction Classes

Class 0
Class 1

provides unreliable message transfer without any result message.

provide reliable message transfer without exactly one reliable result Message

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

Class 2 provide reliable message transfer, with, exactly one reliable result Message
WTP
achieves
reliability
using
duplicate
removal,
retransmission,
acknowledgements and unique transaction identifiers
WTP class 0
Unreliable message transfer without any result message
Transaction is stateless and cannot be aborted
Primitives: TR-Invoke req(SA,SP,DA,DP,A,UD,C=O,H)
A->flag using this user can determine the ack is automatic/user ack
UD->user data
C->class type(now it is 0, C=0)
H->transaction handle simple index to identify the transaction.This primitive is received by responder.
TR-Invoke.ind: upon the receipt of request the responder generates the primitive.
H->Local handle for transaction in the responder side
Basic transaction, WTP class 0

WTP Class 1:
Class
1
offers
a
reliable
transaction service but without
a result message
Automatic Ack
TR-Invoke req: This time class=1
The responder signals the incoming invoke
PDU via the TR-Invoke.ind primitive to the
higher
layer
and
acknowledges
automatically without user intervention.
For the initiator the transaction ends after
receiving the ack but the responder
maintains this ack for sometime to
retransmit.

User ack
This is used when the initiator requests
an user ack
Primitive:
TR-Invoke.req:
The initiator of request primitive does
the same as class 1 but with automatic
ack.
TR-Invoke.ind:
IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

The responder will not send the ack automatically but waits for TR-Invoke.res service primitive from the user.
WTP Class 2:
Provides reliable service without user ack
TR-Invoke.ind: The initiator or user indicates the request with this primitive.
TR-Result.req: The responder gives the result to WTP entry using TR-Result.req
The result.PDU is sent back to initiator which is implicitly acknowledged.
TR-Invoke.cnf: This primitive is used to confirm the request
TR-Result.ind: The indicator can indicate the result
TR-Result.res: The user responds to the result with TR-Result.
TR-Result.cnf: confirmation on the receiver side.
Basic transaction, WTP class 2, no user acknowledgement

Basic transaction, WTP class 2, with user acknowledgement

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

If the calculation of the result takes some time, the responder can put the initiator
on hold on to prevent a retransmission of the invoke PDU as the initiator might
assume packet loss if no result is sent back within a certain timeframe.

4. Wireless session protocol

WSP provides a shared state between a client and a server to optimize content transfer. WSP provides
applications with an interface for two session services
The wireless session protocol (WSP) has been designed to operate on top of the datagram service WDP or
the transaction service WTP.
WSP provides a shared state between a client and a server to optimize content transfer.
WSP offers the following general features needed for content exchange between cooperating clients and servers:
Session management: WSP introduces sessions that can be established from a client to a server and
may be long lived. Sessions can also be released in an orderly manner. The capabilities of suspending
and resuming a session are important to mobile applications.
Capability negotiation: Clients and servers can agree upon a common level of protocol functionality
during session establishment.
Content encoding: WSP also defines the efficient binary encoding for the content it transfers.
Wireless session protocol/browsing (WSP/B) which comprises protocols and services most suited for
browsing-type applications. WSP/B offers the following features adapted to web browsing:
HTTP/1.1 functionality: WSP/B supports the functions HTTP/1.1 offers, such as extensible request/reply
methods, composite objects,and content type negotiation. WSP/B is a binary form of HTTP/1.1.HTTP/1.1
Exchange of session headers: Client and server can exchange request/reply headers that remain constant
over the lifetime of the session.
Push and pull data transfer: Pulling data from a server is the traditional mechanism of the web. This is also
supported by WSP/B using the request/response mechanism from HTTP/1.1. Additionally, WSP/B supports
three push mechanisms for data transfer: a confirmed data push within an existing session context, a nonconfirmed data push within an existing session context, and a non-confirmed data push without an existing
session context.
Asynchronous requests: Optionally, WSP/B supports a client that can send multiple requests to a server
simultaneously.
WSP/B over WTP
WSP/B uses the three service classes of WTP. Class 0 is used for unconfirmed push, session resume, and
session management. Confirmed push uses class 1, method invocation, session resume, and session
management class 2.
WSP/B session establishment

S-Connect.req primitive, a client can request a new session. Parameters are the server address (SA), the
IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .
Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,
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client address (CA), and the optional client header (CH) and requested capabilities (RC).
S-Connect.ind primitive indicates a new session. If the server accepts the new session it answers with an SConnect.res, negotiated capabilities (NC) needed for capability negotiation.
WTP now transfers the connreply PDU back to the client; S-Connect.cnf confirms the session establishment.
WSP/B session suspension and resume

If, for example, a client notices that it will soon be unavailable, e.g., the bearer network will be
unavailable due to roaming to another network or the user switches off the device, the client can suspend the
session. Session suspension will automatically abort all data transmission and freeze the current state of the
session on the client and server side. A client suspends a session with S-Suspend.req, WTP transfers the
suspend PDU to the server. WSP/B will signal the suspension with S-Suspend.ind on the client and server
side. The only parameter is the reason R for suspension.
A client can later resume a suspended session with S-Resume.req. Parameters are server address (SA) and
client address (CA). Terminating a session is done by using the S-Disconnect.req service primitive. Terminating
a session is done by using the S-Disconnect.req service primitive . This primitive aborts all current method or
push transactions used to transfer data. Disconnection is indicated on both sides using S-Disconnect.ind. The
reason R for disconnection can be, e.g., network error, protocol error, peer request, congestion, and maximum
SDU size exceeded.
WSP/B session termination :

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

WSP/B completed Transaction

WSP/B non-confirmed push

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

WSP/B asynchronous, unordered requests

WSP/B as connectionless session service

The three service primitives available for connectionless session service: S-Unit-MethodInvoke.req to request
an operation on a server, S-Unit-MethodResult.req to return results to a client, and S-Unit-Push.req to push
data onto a client. Transfer of the PDUs (method, reply and push) is done with the help of the standard
unreliable datagram transfer service of WDP.
WSP/B as connectionless session service

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

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Wireless application environment

The main idea behind the wireless application environment (WAE) is to create a general-purpose application
environment based mainly on existing technologies and philosophies of the world wide web. This environment
should allow service providers, software manufacturers, or hardware vendors to integrate their applications
so they can reach a wide variety of different wireless platforms in an efficient way.
WAE has already integrated the following technologies and adapted them for use in a wireless environment with
low power handheld devices. HTML , the handheld device markup language HDML, wireless markup
language (WML) and the scripting language WMLscript. The exchange formats for business cards and phone
books vCard and for calendars vCalendar have been included.
URLs from the web can be used.
wireless telephony application (WTA)

WAE logical model

One global goal of the WAE is to minimize over-the-air traffic and resource consumption on the
handheld device.
A client issues an encoded request for an operation on a remote server.
Agateway now translate this encoded request into a standard request as understood by the origin
servers.
The origin servers will respond to the request. The gateway now encodes the response and its content (if
there is any) and transfers the encoded response with the content to the client.
Several user agents can reside within a client. User agents include such items as: browsers, phonebooks,
message editors etc. WAE does not specify the number of user agents or their functionality
Aa user agent profile (UAProf), which describes the capabilities of a user agent. Capabilities may be
related to hardware or software. Examples are: display size, operating system, browser version,
processor, memory size, audio/video codec, or supported network types.

IV IT SKEC , IT2402 Mobile Communication, UNIT V Notes .

Mrs. S.Arumugadevi,

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