IPV6 USE IN IOT

AFRINIC INRM AND IPV6 WORKSHOP

AUGUST 09 12, 2016

ACCRA GHANA,

Ivy Hoetu (Mrs.)

itafram@gmail.com
Ivy.Hoetu@nca.org.gh

OUTLINE
Objectives
IoT Concept and Vision
IoT Architecture and Composition
Introduction to the IPv6 and the IoT
Overview of LoWPANs
Use of IP on LoWPANs
6LoWPAN and other LLN Routing protocols
Evolving networking techniques

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

OBJECTIVES
Have a fair overview of the IoT technology.
Understand why IPv6 is among the drivers of IoT.
Understand the essence of IPv6 migration & why its widely adopted.
Know the standards/protocols for IoT devices communications.
Know about other evolving networking techniques.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

THE IOT CONCEPT

Different definitions due to different view points but same focus:
- ITU: Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012)
- IETF
- Cisco

- Wikipedia

In summary, it is the interconnection and communication of devices and objects either

directly with or without human control.

The IoT can be regarded as an extension of existing interaction between people and
applications through a new dimension of Things for communication and integration.

Wireless Technologies and IPv6 will drive the IoT.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

THE IOT VISION

To build on a complex network connecting billions of devices and humans

into a multi-technology, multi-protocol and multi-platform infrastructure.

To create an intelligent world where the physical, the digital and the virtual
are converging to create smart environments that provide more intelligence
to the energy, health, transport, cities, industry, buildings and many other
areas of our daily lives.
AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

IOT ARCHITECTURE
Build on top of scalable and mature
protocols such as IPv6, 6LoWPAN and
IEEE 802.15.4 wireless technologies.

Open Source Operating Systems such

as Contiki, COAP, MQTTP, etc.

The Contiki OS has been the enabler

of IoT since the conception of WSN
and M2M communications.

Source: CCSA (China Communications Sensor Association

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

IOT ARCHITECTURE CONT

IoT: Layered Architecture

IoT drivers:

Wireless technologies are

driving IoT (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
etc.), more devices will be
used with less resources
required.

The current network protocol

widely adopted for IoT is the
IPv6, however other
communication techniques that
are independent of IP but
application dependent are
fast evolving.
source: ITU-T

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

IOT COMPOSITION
Internet :
-

Network: (PAN/LAN/MAN/WAN)

Access Medium: (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc)

Technology: (2G/3G/4G, etc)

Protocol: IPv6 (The network driver for IoT)

Things

: Things/nodes are highly constrained in terms of physical size, CPU power,

memory, bandwidth, etc. as such will use devices like Rasberry Pi, Zorletia mote,

etc.
Data : Big Data of about 100 billions of bytes.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

OVERVIEW OF LOWPANS
The IoT devices are very resource constrained (low power, cost, memory, etc.) and will
require communication over Low Power & Lossy Networks (LLNs).

Low Power Wireless Personal Area Networks (LoWPANs): Is a simple low throughput

wireless network comprising typically of short range, low cost & low power devices. Its
topology is mostly a Star, Mesh or a combination of the two.

It is a particular instance of LLNs whose devices conforms to IEEE802.15.4-2003 standard.

Low power, typically battery operated.
Low bandwidth and Limited processing power.
A Small packet size and small memory capacity.
Supports large number of devices
Devices are deployed in an ad-hoc manner such that their locations are not be
predefined.

Devices however tend to be unreliable, due to the nature of wireless devices.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

USE OF IP ON LOWPANS
The IP technology provides the following benefits to LoWPANs:

The pervasive nature of IP networks allows use of existing infrastructure.

Most IP technologies exist already, are well-known, proven to be working
and widely available; and among other things allow for interoperability and
easy adoption.

IP specifications are open, freely available and easily understood by many,

as compared to proprietary solutions.

IP devices are easily configurable and can readily be connected to other IPbased networks without intermediate gateways or proxies.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

WHY IPV6?
In IoT, the use of IPv6 networking is widely adopted due to the advantages it offers in
LLNs:
Billions of devices in IoT implies many devices per person as such more unique
addresses are required to identify these devices.
The v6 allows for huge amount of addresses (2^128 eqv. 340 trillions) and provides
for easy network parameters auto-configuration [SLAAC - Stateless Address
Autoconfiguration].

It handles multicast well, and can be easily managed (i.e. can

be compressed into

smaller bytes by using 6LowPAN translation).

It supports scalable mobility and enables low-power/battery-powered devices to mesh
into new, efficient infrastructures.
Eliminates NAT, ensures end-to-end connectivity of devices, and enables IP security.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

6LOWPAN
6LoWPAN is the standard to have IPv6

communication over the IEEE802.15.4 wireless

communication technology.
It acts as an adaptation layer b/n v6 and LLNs
Other routing protocols include:
- 6lo: extends the work of 6LoWPAN by facilitating v6
connectivity over constrained node networks.
- ROLL (Routing Over Low power & Lossy networks):
have specific routing requirements to support
communications not satisfied with existing routing
protocols.
- RPL (v6 Routing Protocol for LLNs) [RFC6550]
- MPL (Multicast Protocol for LLNs) [RFC7731]
AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

6LoWPAN in the protocol stack

Source: IoT in five days

EVOLVING NETWORKING TECHNIQUES

ICN (Information Centric Networking): Alternate to DNS, a system of
establishing communications relationship on information interest rather than endhost.

DTN (Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking): enables seamless communication

between diverse devices & technologies in a store-n-forward manner.

NDN (Named Data Networking): it employs ICN to address IoT challenges and
focuses on content-centric.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

CONCLUSIONS
IP is fundamental to IoT development in that it is transparent, an open-source

protocol, interoperable and easy-to-use.

v6 have publicly available addresses for every device.
v6 eases the complications of network set ups (NAT, proxies, port forwarding,
etc.) as in the case of v4.

Widespread adoption of v6 makes man-in-the-middle attacks significantly

difficult.

NB: The IoT does not absolutely mandate IPv6, but for it to be useful or usable,
IPv6 is very much preferred.(Mokubai, a contributor to IoT discussions)

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

REFERENCES
https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/62/slides/6lowpan-3/6lowpan-4.ppt ICN
IoT in five days GitHub repository1
IoT-From Research and Innovation to Market Deployment_IERC.pdf
wireless.ictp.it/school_2016
Is the IoT speeding up the need for IPv6 deployment?
The case for IPv6 as an enabler of the IoT
3 reasons why IPv6 is important to the IoT.

AFRINIC INRM & IPv6 Workshop, August 2016, Accra - Ghana

THANK YOU
QUESTIONS

AND
CONTRIBUTIONS
Ivy Hoetu (Mrs.)
itafram@gmail.com
Ivy.Hoetu@nca.org.gh