Latency analysis of WAP 2.0 for short-lived flows

An analytical framework for studying the latency of wireless application protocol (WAP 2.0) over wireless links for short transfers is developed. In particular, a Markov channel model, which approximates both correlated and independent packet losses, is introduced. For a given wireless link and protocol parameters, an explicit mathematical expression, which represents a reasonable estimate of the minimum WAP 2.0 latency in terms of file transfer time, is derived. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the validity of analytical results. It is shown that for large file sizes (>20 KB), WAP 2.0 is more sensitive to bursty packet losses than random packet losses. It is also shown that the latency of WAP 2.0 can be improved by increasing the size of the initial window in a low rate bursty error environment, but degrades in a high rate bursty error environment.