(wireless Application Protocol)

WAP

(Wireless Application Protocol)

The Two Paradigms W – World W – Wide W -- Web

W – World W – Wide W – Wireless W -- Web

Imagine …Anytime, Anywhere You Can  Get financial information  Order and buy tickets  Pay your bills  Read the news  Read and send e-mails  Receive your voice-mail  Get a local guide to restaurants  Make stock queries

WAP makes it possible !!

Why is Internet not enough? … or actually … "too much" ...

Motivations for WAP n

Web Access to mobile phones is different because n

The Network is different n

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Bandwidth is limited.

The client devices are different. Weak CPU, Small Memory. n Restricted MMI(display and keyboard, no mouse) n

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Restricted Power Consumption. Users are different n 

Ease of use is very essential.

Thus,

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A special protocol suite for Wireless Web Access is justified.

WAP Forum 

The Wireless Application Protocol is a standard developed by the WAP Forum, a group founded by Nokia, Ericsson, Unwired Planet and Motorola.

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The goals of WAP are to be: n n n n n

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Independent of wireless network standard. Open to all. Scalable across transport options. Scalable across device types i.e. device independent. Extensible over time to new networks and transports.

What is WAP? n

Wireless Application Protocol or WAP for short is simply a protocol - a standardized way for delivering Internet data over wireless networks.

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Thus WAP links Wireless Network with Computer Network (World Wide Web)

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Enables the mobile users to access the internet data.

Wireless Application Protocol Protocol specification for communication over wireless devices nSpecified by WAP Forum nOpen, global and non proprietary. nDevice and bearer independent. nConforming to OSI standards nYou can say that it is a “parallel internet” n

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Designed to create services for small handheld terminals

W A ire Fr pp l e am lic ss ew atio Te or ns lep ho k Access to telephony related functionality

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Multiple OS like Palm OS, EPOC, Flex OS, Java OS, OS/9, PocketPC ec.

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WAP Key Features

Designed to minimize required bandwidth and impact of latency

WAP Architecture Any WAP enable system consists of :

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A) WAP Gateway B) the HTTP Web Server and C) the WAP Device (ex: any WAP enabled mobile)

WAP Architecture Application Servers (3rd party) Operator’s domain

Application Server, Telephony Services

WAP Gateway/ Proxy

Internet

Wireless Network

WAP Gateway Connects the Internet domain to the Wireless domain.

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Cache service

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Script compilation

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Protocol conversion

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Security provided with WTLS, which supports authentication and encryption

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Compressed Binary Transmission

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WAP Server Hosts WAP applications nAllows WAP services to be hosted on standard WWW servers using proven technologies like ASP, Java Servlets, CGI scripts … nProvides security and authentication nWAP content is created using WML, which is a light weight HTML. nGateway and server functions can be combined into a single physical server. n

WAP Application Environment n

Wireless Markup Language (WML) A light markup language, similar to HTML, but optimized for use in handheld mobile terminals

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WML Script A lightweight scripting language, similar to JavaScript

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Wireless Telephony Application (WTA, WTAI) A framework and programming interface for telephony service

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WAP Protocol Stack

WAP Protocols

Conventional Web Architecture

Working of WAP

Fig: Showing WAP user request and response

Services & Business Areas n

Information services

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WAP Portals

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M-care - customer service, payment status, account updates

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Entertainment – games & interactive multi-player events

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M-commerce nBanking and finance nShopping nGambling nTicketing

WAP v/s Standard Protocols WAP is more economical than HTTP

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HTTP requires a TCP connection to every server: WAP requires only one (WSP) session with its gateway. n HTTP compiles the given content “as it is”. WAP compiles the WML content. n HTTP uses human readable headers. WAP uses binary headers. n

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For equivalent content, WAP requires less packets and less volume than HTTP. Thus, it provides higher effective bandwidth.

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Advantages Vs Disadvantages Simplicity of Use nMobility nPersonalized nEasy to Carry n

Low Band Width nBattery life nLimited Computation Power nLimited on board storage nLimited Graphics nLimited Keyboard and Display screen Size n

Potential Threats n

Pricing

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Security

End-to-end security problems

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Marketing

Technology push, not market pull

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Competition

Microsoft Wireless Knowledge (Microsoft-Qualcomm tie-up) nPalm VII (Palm Computing) nI-mode (NTT) , currently most developed but limited due to PDC nSIM TOOLKIT, will be a complementary solution n

So Far … Internet on the cell phone. nDownloadable applications. nLocation and proximity detection technologies…Global Positioning system nConvergence of WAP and Bluetooth nEvolution of Wireless networks towards 3 and 4G. n

Exciting Possibilities Embedded Java will do away with performance and memory issues n“WAPLETS” will allow you to dynamically download Java byte code and execute them on the cell phone nVoice will be a predominant option for data entry, but key pads will still be used for secure data n

Conclusion … SMS and WAP continue to be the key technologies for wireless application development

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When you design for wireless, don’t take a “porting” approach towards your application. Instead, focus on how you can leverage the strength of the medium to design your next killer app.

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References n

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Application_Protoc

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www.pdfcoke.com

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http://www.w3schools.com/wap/

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http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/channels/wap/training/wa

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http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/wap/wa

Thank You