WS4D - Web Services for Devices

WS4D - Web Services for Devices

Web Services for Devices (WS4D) is an initiative bringing Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web services technology to the application domains of industrial automation, home entertainment, automotive systems and telecommunication systems. WS4D advances results of the ITEA project SIRENA and is managed by the University of Rostock, University of Dortmund and MATERNA.



WS4D is all about using internet technologies like XML, HTTP and Web Services to connect resource-constrained devices in ad hoc networks and still conserve interoperability with Web services as specified by the W3C. This enables the usage of high level concepts for Web services also in low level distributed embedded systems. So WS4D provides technologies for easy setup and management of network-connected devices in distributed embedded systems.

The WS4D toolkits available on this site comply to the Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS). The toolkit based on gSOAP is targeted for small resource-constrained devices and can be used to implement DPWS compliant devices with the C programming language. The toolkit based on J2ME is also targeted for small and resource-constrained devices to implement DPWS compliant devices in Java. The third toolkit is based on Axis2 an Apache project and is targeted for resource rich implementations to connect DPWS compliant devices with the Web services world.

At the moment DPWS is part of the “Network-connected Devices”-program of Microsoft and integrated in their latest operating system Windows Vista. Microsoft uses DPWS to integrate network devices like printers or beamers as devices into Windows Vista. The WS4D toolkits are tested for the interoperability with Windows Vista.