Wireless Application Protocol

Wireless LAN

T-110.300/301
 Background for WAP

• Handheld devices have

– Weak CPU
– Little memory
– Limits on electrical power
– Limited user I/O
• Most of the time communications are over a
cellular phone radio link
– Narrowband
– High latency
– Typically burst errors (packet loss is not due to
congestion)
 Wireless Application Protocol

• An industry-wide standard to develop applications

for wireless environments
• Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia...
• Based on WWW technologies and philosophies
• See http://www.wapforum.org/
• Several parts (version 1.0):
– WAE - Wireless application environment
– WAP - Wireless application protocol
– WSP - Wireless session protocol
– WTP - Wireless transport protocol
– WTA* - Wireless telephony application...
 Goals

• To design a protocol family suitable for building

interactive applications for devices with
– limited capabilities:
– battery power
– memory
– screen size
– limited bandwidth
– possibly long latencies
– different user interfaces
• Global and international usability
• Security and access control
The WAP 1.0 Protocol Stack
Wireless Markup
Language (WML)
Other Services and Applications
Common Services

Session Layer (WSP)

Security Layer

Transport Layer (WTP)

Bearer Systems (GSM data, SMS, GPRS)

 The Transport Protocol (WAP 1.0)
• Connection oriented WTP/C
– Optimized for low bandwidth wireless bearers
– Efficient for request-reply interaction
– Reliability
• Datagram oriented WTP/D
– Datagrams are moved transparently on the bearer
network
• Port based abstract interface to upper layers.
• Low memory and CPU speed requirements.
 The Session Protocols

• Mechanisms for exchanging typed data between

WAP applications in a secure manner
• In WAP 1.0 Architecture the specification is
coupled with the Security Layer
• Optimized for asymmetric client–server
functionality. Includes the server initiated “push”
model. Application Layer
Session Layer
Security Layer
Transport Layer
Bearers
 WAP architecture

binary WML WML

WSP/WTP HTTP
GSM data TCP/IP

WAP HTTP
WAP
handset server,
gateway,
WML to .WML
binary format pages
conversion

• WML is a markup Language modeled after HTML

 WML Design

• Providing WML services to a handset is not as

easy as making web pages
– The limited available memory of the first handsets
limited the amount of pages the handset can cache
– The pages should take full advantage of the available
screen space
– Customization is required for different handsets
• The amount of WAP servers is currently growing
(2004), due to WAP over GPRS
• HTML -> WML conversion is also possible, but
often not very efficient
Wireless Application Protocol 2.0

• A new specification that improves on the earlier

specifications
• Interoperability with GPRS and 3G standards
• Interoperability with TCP/IP protocols
– The lower WAP layers can be replaced by TCP and
HTTP
• More support for device characteristics
• XHTML support
 WAP 2.0 Layers
WAP Device Web Server
WAE WAP Gateway WAE
WSP WSP HTTP HTTP
WTP WTP TLS (SSL) TLS (SSL)
WTLS WTLS TCP TCP
WDP WDP IP IP
Bearer Bearer Bearer Bearer

• WAE is not a protocol but a service environment

• Note that the WAP stack provides services that correspond
to TCP/IP services, but both the structure and the services
are different
• WAP 2.0 stack is not compatible with WAP 1.0
 WAP 2.0 Protocols

• Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)

– HTTP 1.1 like functionality
– Connection oriented and connectionless sessions
• Wireless Transport Protocol (WTP)
– Lightweight transaction oriented protocol
– Re-transmissions and acknowledgements
• Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)
– Privacy, data integrity, authentication
– Similar to TLS 1.0 (SSL)
– With added datagram support
• Wireless Datagram Protocol
– General datagram service
 WAP 2.0 Over TCP
WAP Device Web Server
WAE WAE
HTTP HTTP
TLS (SSL) WAP proxy TLS (SSL)
TCP* TCP* TCP TCP
IP IP IP IP
Wireless Wireless Wired Wired

• Transport Layer Security is optional

• TCP* is the Wireless Profiled TCP
• The WAP proxy is optional
 Wireless Profiled TCP

• TCP design assumes that packet loss is due to congestion

– This design assumption affects the protocol implementation,
not the PDUs
• IETF working group Performance Implications of Link
Characteristics (PILC) has studied TCP over other than
traditional networks
– TCP implementations can be optimized for certain types of
networks without affecting the interoperability
– E.g. larger initial window and MTU, selective
acknowledgment, path MTU discovery
• WP-TCP takes advantage of PILC work
– The TCP implementation in the WAP device can be changed
– The server side TCP implementation can not be changed, but
a WP-TCP proxy can be added to the data path
 WAP Proxy

• WAP 2.0 can use HTTP directly

– The proxy is no longer required
• The proxy can perform useful tasks
– Feature enhancements
– Location, privacy, presence
– Wireless Profiled TCP
– Content translation
– WML to binary format
– WAP push
– Content compression
 Backwards Support

• WAP 1.x protocol stack can co-exist

independently with WAP 2.0 stack
– Protocols should not be mixed between 1.x and 2.x

WAP Device
Wireless Application Environment
WAP 1.x Stack WAP 2.x Stack
Wireless Application Environment

• A service environment
• Microbrowser
– Wireless Markup Language (WML)
– + WMLscript
– XHTMLMP
– Extensible Hypertext Markup Language Mobile Profile
– Replaces WML (Wireless Markup Language) in WAP 2.0
• Wireless Telephony Application (WTA)
– Integrates WAP and the telephone part of the handset
• Several content formats and services
– vCard and vCalendar
– SyncML data synchronization service
 New WAP 2.0 services

• WAP Push
– A push type extension that can send a message from
the WAP proxy to the WAP device
– Used by the MMS service
• User Agent Profile
– Based on the Composite Capabilities / Preference
Profiles work by the W3C
– Sends servers and proxies information about the
terminal capabilities
• Wireless Identity Module WIM
– SIM like model and hardware device for providing
cryptographic services
 WAP 2.0 Future

• WML or XHTML?
• WAP stack or TCP/IP?
• Something else?
• Currently nobody knows

• What is in the standard is not what is getting

implemented
– Not all services will be available
 i-Mode

• Introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan 1999

– A closed system developed for one operator
• IP datagram transmission over existing PDC telephone
system
• A scaled down version of HTML, cHTML language to create
pages
• A winning business model
– Simple services for a monthly low fee, ~ 1-2 €
– A large content producer base, of which a few successes
– Customer need for a "national language Internet"
– Traditional Internet not very popular
– User friendly handsets
 Wireless LAN
• After wired LANs, e.g. Ethernet, became popular, wireless
options were requested
– Easier network installation
– Laptops imply the need for limited mobility
– Full mobility, like the cellular systems provide, is usually not as
important
• Currently the dominant standard is the IEEE 802.11 family
– An Ethernet-like local radio network with a range of ~60 m and
data rates of 1 - 54 Mbps
– The 802.11b (2-4 Mbps) and 802.11g (~20 Mbps) standards
are currently significant
• WLAN business
– Hotspots (APs) in restaurants, cafes etc.
– Free, or charging can be based on credit card numbers or
telco SIMs (connection to HLR/AuC in GSM/3G network)
 802.11b

• A.k.a. Wi-Fi (a marketing name of Wi-Fi alliance,

which certifies products)
• Operates at the 2.4 GHz band
– License free in most countries
– Exact spectrum depends on national allocation,
equipment needs to know in which country it operates
– Also 100mW in Europe, 1W in USA
• Maximum bit rate 11 Mbps
– 1, 2 or 5 Mbps in practice
• Now being superseded by IEEE 802.11g
– 20+ Mbps, up to 54 Mbps
– in the 2.4 GHz band.
 Modes

• Ad-Hoc
– No structure
– All nodes connect point to point
– No relaying
– Called Independent Basic Service Set
• Access Point mode
– Infrastructure base station
– All traffic from a node to the access point
– A single AP is called Basic Service Set
– The AP is configured to operate on a certain channel
– The stations scan the channels looking for the AP
• Both access points and stations in ad-hoc mode are
identified by SSID (Service Set Identification)
– Commonly referred to as "network name"
 The Hidden Node Problem

• CSMA/CA
– Carrier Sense Multiple Access With Collision Avoidance
– The 802.11 WLAN family is a lot like the Ethernet (802.3)
– The Collision Detection in the Ethernet CSMA/CD has been
replaced with Collision Avoidance
• Two stations can see the AP, but are located too far to
sense each other's transmissions
– On the co-axial Ethernet all stations can sense each other
• If the stations transmit simultaneously, the AP can not
resolve the colliding data
• Thus a station sends first a Request To Send (RTS) to the
AP
• The AP replies with a Clear To Send (CTS)
• Also, the data is acknowleged (ACK) whe received
 Handovers

• If several APs provide access to a same IP subnet, the node

may select a new access point while keeping its IP address
– In WLAN terminology this is called "roaming"
– Compare to cellular roaming, which means that a mobile
station is visiting a different network
– Called Extended Service Set (ESS)
– Must be activated at the APs
• Access point re-selection is usually activated by the stations
software, when it detects that the AP signal is weak
– The station scans the channels for a stronger AP with same
SSID
• Current WLAN technologies do not support true mobility
 WLAN Security

• Radio networks are by default unsecure

• Simple access can be limited based on the station's MAC
address
– This can be circumvented by attackers
• Originally a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol was
supposed to provide security
– A shared secret of 40 or 128 bits between the stations and
access point
– Several major problems have been found in the WEP
• 802.11i is a new mechanism,
– Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a marketable subset of this
• Many prefer to use IPSec, SSH, SSL and other higher level
security mechanisms
 Other Wireless Networks

• Bluetooth
– A Personal Area Network (PAN)
– Range of ~10 m, connects personal devices
– Data rate of ~ 1/2 Mbps
• IEEE 802.16 family
– Broadband Wireless Access (wireless T1)
– Range of ~ 20-50 km
– WiMAX is the industry advocacy group for these
– Might be of interest to for example the rural areas