Wireless Application Protocol and i-Mode

By

Sridevi Madduri

Swetha Kucherlapati

Sharrmila Jeyachandran

Presentation Outline

Motivation Introduction to WAP WAP Architecture Introduction to i-Mode i-Mode Architecture WAP Versus i-Mode Conclusion

Motivation

The need to access the Internet Content with handheld devices from anywhere

Characteristics of handheld devices:

- Weak CPU

- Limited memory

- Limited battery power

- Limited user I/O

Introduction to WAP

Gateway to a new world of mobile data Universal standard which enables users to easily access

Web based interactive information services and applications from the screens of their mobile phones

WAP Forum – Initial proposals came from Ericsson, Nokia and Phone.com.

WAP can work over several wireless technologies WAP stack can operate on various mobile devices with

different operating system.

Introduction to WAP cont’d

Client application is a micro-browser Uses Wireless Markup Language Information is organized as decks and cards XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTMLMB) replaces WML in

WAP 2.0 Commerce, finance , entertainment and messaging

applications are the most widely used services.

WAP Architecture

WAP Architecture cont’d

WAP Gateway provides the following functions:

- translate WAP protocols to web protocols

- encode WAP content into a compact for radio transfer and decode compact

content transmitted over radio

- manage user profiles (client capabilities and user preferences)

WAP protocol architecture Wireless Application Environment (WAE) –

Application level services, tools and languages for content handling

Wireless Session protocol (WSP) – connection-oriented and connectionless sessions

Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP) – reliable connection and transaction oriented services , flow control, retransmissions

Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) – privacy, integrity, authentication and end-to-end security

Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP) – common interface to physical bearers

Introduction to i-Mode

Japan’s leading cellular phone operator NTTDocoMo launched

i-Mode in 1999

i-Mode is a packet-switched mobile phone service, which offers

continuous , always-on internet access

i-Mode uses Personal Digital Cellular Packet (PDC-P) bearer

Client application is a micro-browser

i-Mode enabled websites use compact HTML (cHTML), a subset

of HTML4.0

Simple entertainment represents more than 75% of the

traffic followed by email and news.

i-Mode Communication Model

i-Mode Architecture

i-Mode Protocol Architecture Transport Layer protocol (TLP) – Improved efficiency in

PDC-P network over TCP, no 3-way handshake Application Layer Protocol (ALP) – supports both pull and

push style communication, direct communication between mobile phone and i-Mode server

User Information Transfer Protocol (UITP) – sends subscriber information from PDP-C network to i-Mode server

Network Management Protocol (NWMP) – perform signaling (start/end of communication)

WAP and i-Mode Features Open specification for

content handling in wireless networks

Site based on WML 39% of world’s wireless

internet users Usually used over circuit

switched connections Services business-oriented,

work-oriented Anyone can produce

contents, content menus

Wireless internet service

Sites based on cHTML 60% of world’s wireless

internet users Usually used over packet-

switched networks Services user-oriented, fun-

oriented Anyone can produce

content , DoCoMo operates content menus

Conclusion

WAP is an open specification developed by a consortium i-Mode is a service developed by NTTDoCoMo 3G – services (FOMA) are currently provide for i-Mode

users WAP 2.0 is a step toward integrating previous releases

of WAP and i-Mode.

Questions

How Secure is WAP ?- WTLS protocol / client & WAP gateway- SSL / web server and WAP gateway- Security parameters to protect the session (like

encryption protocols, signature algorithms, public keys)

- Keys negotiated periodically- Client and Server authentication using certificates,

secure exchange of keys , encryption of data, digital signing.

Questions cont’d Does i-mode support JAVA ?- ‘i-appli’ : service that provides a integrated

platform for appl programs written in java for i-mode capable phones.

- KVM

Questions cont’d

What security measures are implemented in i-mode?

- SSL/TLS protocol provides server authentication and i-mode devices have certificates pre-installed

- Confidentiality and integrity of application data is guaranteed

- Client authentication via applications specific means

Questions cont’d

Are browsers like IE and Netscape supported by i-mode? If not why? What is the remedy?

- Micro-browsers - Low memory and bandwidth capacities

Can WAP and i-Mode Co-exist?

Yes

THANK YOU